True Crime: East Meets West
by TheHeadInCharge
Summary: Marcus Reed teams up with Nick Kang to bust an old nemesis from Marcus's past. There may be other problems along the way.
1. Introduction Part 1A (New York)

**TRUE CRIME: EAST MEETS WEST**

 **Introduction Part 1 (New York)**

 _ **Disclaimer: Activision owns the rights to True Crime. I am only a fan.**_

 _ **Author's commentary: This is a story that has the two protagonists, Nick Kang and Marcus Reed, teaming up. I had thought about this for months but now I found the perfect scenario. Hope you enjoy it.**_

* * *

New York City, Spring 2006.

 _New York City, once a hotbed for crime has now been cleaned up. Not necessarily crime-free, but when my prince Marcus is cleaning up the streets the way he can, it only makes sense for my kingdom to still be strong as it has been for many years. When looking at my boy, I could not help but feel pride for him because he had cleaned up his act. I was always there for my son, even though I wasn't a great influence on him. He had made a few mistakes, but he was lucky to get a chance to redeem himself, although I can tell that his past haunts him in many ways and there are times that he displays shades from his past even while on the other side of the law. And when that happens, sometimes even the darkest parts from your past resurface, and that's never a good thing._

 _-Isaiah Reed, aka "The King."_

One night, as Marcus left the precinct, he had approached a taxi cab to help take him back to his place. It was not just any taxi cab, though. The man behind the wheel was Freddie, a man whom Marcus had done multiple favors for and because of it, Freddie was not opposed to giving Marcus free rides from time to time.

"Marcus, how you doing, my friend?" Freddie asked.

"What up, Freddie," Marcus said. "Just take me home, I had a long day."

"As you wish, sir," Freddie said.

As Marcus enters Freddie's green taxi cab, a black car pulled up at about 30 feet away from behind them. Freddie looked in his rearview mirror and noticed the car parked there for no reason.

"Is that the guy?" said one of the guys in the car.

"I think so," said the guy in the backseat. "The boss showed us a picture of him. It's got to be him."

"Hey, Lamont," said the guy in the front passenger seat. "Follow that cab."

"Right, Mike," said Lamont, as he turned his head forward, and took a deep breath.

As the green cab started to roll off, the black car started to do the same thing. Freddie drove Marcus, who was tired after a long day on the job. Freddie looked through his rearview mirror right at Marcus.

"Hey, Marcus, what's going on?" Freddie asked. "Why so quiet? You look tired, I thought you never sleep."

"Come on, Freddie, of course I sleep," Marcus said. "Just not on most nights. I have too much on my mind right now, I think I need a vacation or something new to happen."

"I know what you mean, my friend, I am the same way," Freddie replied as he glanced through the mirror and as his eyes shifted to right behind him, he could not but notice the same black car that was behind him earlier was still behind him. Even with the brightness of the headlights, he was certain that it was the same car as he leaned slightly closer to the mirror.

As the cab pulled up in front of an apartment complex, the same car, while it was at a distance, still followed them. Freddie looked over in his side rearview mirror to confirm his suspicion of the car.

Marcus got out of the cab and said good night to Freddie, he reached for his wallet to pay his fare.

"No, keep the money, you'll thank me for this," Freddie said.

As Marcus pulled away from the cab, Freddie floored the gas to get out of there as fast as possible. He looked on with a lot of confusion, but also with little surprise to Freddie's action in the matter in that moment. As he walked inside the building, Mike, and the other man, Ron, got out of the car to follow Marcus inside, as Lamont looked on with a bit of worry and confusion on his face.

When Marcus entered the elevator, his Motorola cellphone rings and he saw the contact's name and it was Freddie.

 _Man, what does he want?_

Marcus answered the phone, "What's up, Freddie? You just raced off in a hurry."

"I have to warn you," Freddie said. "I saw a car follow us on our way to your house. I got really scared and I must tell you that you might be in danger."

Marcus's eyes widened as his jaw dropped a bit after he had heard that. But even with a touch of fear in his system, Marcus was not about to turn away from all of this. When Freddie told him, the only thing he had to do was prepare himself for what was to come.

The two men walk right into the building, fully strapped and clearly up to no good. They were given information of where Marcus lived by their boss. The two went up the elevator and got out their guns and then put silencers on them to avoid making noise. They walked down the hallway and right to the door of his apartment and knock on the door a few times.

"There is no answer," Rob said.

Mike put his hand on the door knob and was taken aback when he noticed that the door was unlocked.

"Let's just go in and get this over with," Ron said as he cocked his pistol. "Just stay out here and make sure nothing happens."

Ron opened the door as he was the first to enter and noticed that no one was around, only for the door to close and Marcus stood right beside the door while holding a gun and walked right behind Ron and pointed his pistol right to the back of his head.

"Freeze, motherfucker," Marcus said.

Just then Ron looked up and realized something was up.

"Drop the gun, now!" Marcus yelled. "Who sent you?"

Ron put his gun on the floor and put his hands up in the air, and then started to smile a bit.

"You got me," Ron laughed a bit. "But I ain't telling you shit."

"Oh no?" Marcus said. "You were sent here to kill me, and you know that is a major felony if you kill a cop."

Ron said nothing as he could not help but laugh at what Marcus said. He slowly reached his hand against the gun to pick it up, but Marcus kicked the gun away.

"I'm not letting you do that, tell me who you are working for and why he sent you to kill me," Marcus said. "Who do you work for? Lionel Jones? Vincent Tuzzi? Magdalena Rojas? Leeland Shen? They're all locked up. JUST SAY IT!"

Mike then opened the door.

"Ron, what the fuck is going on in here?" Mike said, and Marcus then turned his attention, which then gave Ron the opportunity to pick up the gun once again, but Marcus acted fast and turned around and grabbed Ron by his arm and snapped it. The amount of pain caused Ron to scream at the top of his lungs. Marcus then delivered a karate chop to the back of Ron's neck which knocked him out.

Even in such a short amount of time that Marcus acted in self-defense, it opened an opportunity for Mike to get out his gun to shoot him, but Marcus had been in situations like this before, so the moment Mike tried to open fire, Marcus quickly aimed for Mike's leg and shot it. Once the bullet hit the leg, blood squirted out and he then fell to the ground. That didn't stop Mike for reaching the gun, but then Marcus went right to him and pointed his gun to his face.

"Don't even try," Marcus said.

Marcus did not hesitate to cuff Mike right then and there, so that he wouldn't try anything else. Right when he was done cuffing Mike, Ron had regained consciousness and then stretched arm to have it pop right back into place. Ron wasted no time in attacking Marcus from behind, but rather than just simply shoot him, he just got out a wire and tried to wrap it around Marcus's neck to strangle him. Ron pulled back tight which caused Marcus to gag. The only thing Marcus could do in the moment is walk backwards and bump right into the wall. Right when they hit the wall, Ron had let go of the wire. Marcus coughed as he tried to breathe.

"You're under arrest," Marcus said.

"Fuck you," Ron said.

Marcus looked at Ron. "Oh, is that so? Well, I thought about doing it the easy way, but now I have to do it the hard way."

Marcus picked Ron up to his feet and punched him so hard that he knocked him down. Ron got right back up, as he was not done trying to do the job, but this time he got out a knife.

"Oh, shit!" Marcus said.

Ron ran right to Marcus, who then opened the door to the hallway and hit his head right against the door to the neighbor across the hall. Right then, several of Marcus's neighbors walked right out of their apartments to see what was going on. Ron got up and tried to slash Marcus with the knife who then kicked it out of his hand and then jumped up in the air and delivered a hard knee right to his face.

"Reed, what the hell is going on here?" One of the neighbors said. "We heard gunshots."

"Please do me a favor, call the police," Marcus said, and then fell right to the ground in exhaustion.

Meanwhile, outside, Lamont waited for Mike and Ron to come back, only to see that a lot of squad cars were rushing the spot.

"What the fuck is this shit?" Lamont said.

Lamont looked on as many cops got out of their cars. He did the only thing he could do in that moment: just drive off.

As a few uniformed cops go inside to see what was going on, Marcus dragged a handcuffed Ron outside and threw him inside a squad car, while another cop walked Mike outside, who limped from the gunshot to his leg. Ron looked behind and saw that Lamont was nowhere to be seen.

"I guess that fool Lamont sold us out," Ron said. "That cop knew we were coming."

"I don't think it was him," Mike said. "But he knew, and Lamont was supposed to be our driver and other lookout guy. He sold out against the crew and he'll pay the price soon."

Another car had pulled up and out came Deena Dixon, Marcus's lieutenant in the Street Crime Unit, who is somewhat like a mother figure to Marcus.

"Marcus, what happened?" Dixon said. "I came as soon as I heard what was going on at your apartment."

"Two men came to kill me," Marcus said. "They didn't say who they were working for, but I am going to find out soon."

"Marcus, I don't think you're safe here," Dixon said. "Maybe you should stay at a hotel for a night or so, and I think you should take a vacation before we get to the bottom of this."

"Hell no, I don't need a vacation," Marcus said. "Besides, what if you guys don't catch the guy behind this?"

"Okay, how about this?" Dixon said. "If you don't want a vacation, how about I get you into the program where someone from our unit goes to another city and works with one of their officers? You'll still work, and you will be a lot safer there than out here."

"I don't know, let me think about this," Marcus said.

"Look, you need to rest, but you need to be somewhere else," Dixon said. "You can't be at your home because whoever wants you dead, he will likely send another person after you."

Marcus turned his head because he knew that he wanted to be on this case so badly, but with him being a marked man, he couldn't be in this situation.

"I'll get back to you in the morning," Marcus said. "I'll go stay at a hotel."

* * *

 **Note: I will continue this introduction in another chapter before I start my introduction for the LA portion with Nick Kang. Stay tuned.**


	2. Introduction Part 1B (New York)

**Intro Part 1B (New York)**

 **Note: Because the first part of the intro that took place in NY took a little long and there wasn't anything to help set up the actual story, I will do this and then jump to the second part of the intro in LA.**

* * *

The following morning, Marcus came into the precinct in hopes to finally get to the bottom of who tried to have him killed. However, being that he was a marked man, it just wasn't safe for him in NYC much longer.

Lt. Dixon approached Marcus as he walked right in, as he was ready to find the guys in the holding cell.

"Marcus, what are you doing here? You should be somewhere else, far from here," Dixon said.

"I know, but until I want to know who called in the hit," Marcus said. "Someone must really want me dead enough to try to kill me in my own home."

"We will find who it is, don't worry, it's our job," Dixon said. "We are even trying to get the OCU in on this, it has to be someone big."

"What about those guys we busted last night?" Marcus asked.

"I have bad news, they were bailed out two hours after they were arrested," Dixon said.

Marcus shrugged at what he had just heard, but his lieutenant had a point. If Marcus were to stay in New York, the chances would have been good that he would be dead by the end of the following week, maybe even much sooner than that.

"Okay, and I thought about what you said about me going to another city," Marcus said. "I am thinking about it, but I haven't decided. Do I get to choose the city?"

Dixon replied, "As far as I know, the following cities that can use some help are Los Angeles, Miami, Austin, Las Vegas, and Chicago."

Marcus was tempted at helping at any of those cities. Suddenly, the phone rang at Dixon's desk.

"Excuse me, Marcus, I should get this," Dixon said, then she approached her desk to pick up the phone. "Hello, this is Lt. Dixon of the PDNY's Street Crime Unit."

"Hi, I would like to speak with Marcus Reed, is he available?" said the caller.

Dixon's eyes widened a bit and her mouth opened a bit what she had just heard, then her eyes shifted towards Marcus at that moment.

"Yes, he is," she said. "May I ask who is calling?"

"It's not important, but I need to speak to him right now," the caller said. "Put him on, please."

"Okay," Dixon said. She gave Marcus a signal to go to his desk so that he could take the call. Marcus approached his and picked up the phone.

"I will put him on right now," Dixon said.

"This is Reed," Marcus said while he held the phone to his ear.

"Hello, Detective Reed, I have some details you want to know," the caller said.

"I am kind of busy right now trying to figure some shit out," Marcus said.

"I know who was behind the hit on you last night," the caller said.

Marcus's jaw dropped right at the end of the caller's statement.

"Who is this, by the way?" Marcus said.

"My name is not important, but what I will tell you is that I was there last night," the caller said. "The guy who ordered your murder was Bobby Green."

Right then, Marcus's eyes widened, and his jaw dropped even further, like he knew that name rather well. He then looked around to make sure no one was listening to the conversation.

Marcus lowered his voice a bit when replied, "You better have a damn good plan to get the fuck out of here, because the last thing you want to do is snitch on Bobby Green."

The caller replied, "You think I don't know that, and don't worry, I will get out of here. I am helping your ass out and I will tell you one thing you really need to know. He is heading out to Los Angeles to make a deal with someone. He hasn't said who, he ain't telling us shit about the deal, but he is heading out there soon. Thought you'd want to know about this."

Marcus then looked over at Dixon, who then saw a familiar face walk in through the precinct.

"Okay, thank you for this information," Marcus said. "But like you said, you fuck with Bobby Green, you're as good as dead."

"I know, but you have some support here," said the caller.

Marcus then hung up the phone and approached Dixon and the familiar person.

"Whitting? What are you doing here?" Marcus said.

"Dixon told me about the hit that was put out on you," Whitting said. "I am here to help the PDNY on this case. With these guys wanting you dead, it's best that you…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, that's what I wanted to talk about," Marcus said, who turned his attention to Dixon. "I thought it over, and I want to go to LA to help out over there. Just keep me up to date about the case involving the hit on me."

"We will," Dixon said. "We will call the person in charge of a division in LA that would involve you being able to have jurisdiction throughout the entire city. I have heard of it. I think that they are called the Elite Operations Division."

"Cool," Marcus said. "I will be out of here in a bit. I have to make a personal call."

Marcus got out if the precinct and made a call to someone who needed to hear about what he had gone through.

"Hello?" said the person on the other side.

"Hey, Pops, I have something I want to tell you," Marcus said.

"Marcus, this is a surprise," said Isaiah Reed, Marcus's father. "How are things going? What's going on?"

"Not that good, and all kinds of shit," Marcus said. "I'm going to need for you to find out about some shit involving Bobby Green, he tried to have me killed last night."

"Bobby Green?" Isaiah said. "He tried to have you killed? I ain't surprised about this, but he better get out of dodge if he was going to have you capped, or else he would not make it out of here, alive or dead. Let's not forget the history you two have, in fact, we all have a bad history with THAT family. He blamed you for the death of his old man, not to mention you busted his brother, among other things."

"Exactly what I am getting at, it seems that he is going to LA to sort some shit out," Marcus said. "I wouldn't be shocked if he was doing this because he knew he would have some heat on his ass."

"Look, you know I still have some guys on the streets," Isaiah said. "I will have some of my guys look into some of the shit that has happened."

Marcus did not know what to think, especially since he had conflicting sides on the issue. One being his fellow police officers, the other his father's gang, which he still maintained his ties to because of his father.

"Well, I have some support on my side on it," Marcus said. "But you better stay out of their way in trying to figure it all out."

"Don't worry, son, I know what I am doing," Isaiah said.

"Okay, I'll be in touch, just call me on my phone, even though I will be on the other side of the country, settling this shit my way," Marcus said.

"That's my boy, but as a father, don't get too caught up in your own shit while you're on one side of the law," Isaiah said. "You don't want to bring out the old Marcus."

"Yeah, I know, talk to you soon, Pops," Marcus said and then closed his own right when the conversation had ended.

Marcus went back inside the precinct and went right up to Dixon and Whitting, and said the one thing that was on his mind: "When do I get to leave for LA?"

Later, as Marcus exited the precinct, Whitting approached Marcus with something to say.

"Hey, Marcus, just letting you know, the feds will have your back on this whole thing," Whitting said. "If you ever have to work any of my fellow feds, just tell a man named Masterson that I am sorry for almost having him killed a while back."

"Um…okay, I'll keep that in mind," Marcus replied, not having known anything by what the veteran FBI agent meant.

And Marcus was off to Los Angeles, California, unbeknownst to his superior that he was bound to go after an old nemesis of his.

* * *

 **MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE**

Mike and Ron stood right behind a man in a suit, but it was not just any man, it was their boss, Bobby Green, who was better known as B.G., who ran a gang in a way that was different from how Isaiah Reed ran his gang. B.G. had inherited the leadership of the gang after the passing of his father, Omar Green, who was also known as O.G. Bobby stood there with his right-hand man, Andrew Kirby, who called himself A.K., as well as his muscle, Terrence Brown, also known as Big Tank.

"Did you want to see us, B.G.?" Mike asked.

"That's Mr. Green to you, motherfucker," Bobby said, who then turned around to face the two. "Last night, you guys had one simple task to smoke Marcus Reed, but you two managed to get your asses kicked and arrested in the process."

"Well, it was not our fault, we…" Ron said.

"Shut the fuck up!" Bobby said. "I noticed that Lamont was nowhere to be found, that guy had better be gone or we'll get him gone ourselves."

Mike and Ron looked at each other not knowing how to respond to it.

"One more thing, how did you two manage to get your asses kicked by Marcus Reed, huh?" Bobby said. "You guys had guns, you should have blasted him right in the fucking head."

"We tried, but…" Mike said.

"But WHAT?! Huh?!" Bobby said. "It should have been easy. Now it's possible that we are going to go down because you guys couldn't get the job done. I would kill you guys myself right now, but I think I may need you two motherfuckers when we get to LA for our little deal. Until we get back, I expect some of my other men to try to get rid of Marcus Reed, as well as his father, Isaiah Reed, whom I had heard should be getting out soon."

A.K. whispered something in Bobby's ear.

"Look, you two come with us on this business deal, and then maybe afterwards, I will decide if I should keep you guys alive," Bobby said. "If you fuck up while there, I will fuck you guys up."

Ron and Mike weren't in the least bit phased by what they were told, as they nodded their heads after what they had head.

"You may go now," B.G. said, whom still had A.K. to his side, as he wanted to tell him something.

"I need for you to call someone back," A.K. said.

"Who?" B.G. said.

"You KNOW who," A.K. said.

"Right," B.G. said, who then got out his phone and made a call.

"Hello," said the person on the other end.

"Hello, Captain," B.G. said. "It seems that my men didn't get the job done."

"What? They didn't take out Reed?" the Captain said. "Well, we'll deal with him and his old man some other time, you need your ass to LA now. Our client is waiting for you guys."

"We will be leaving here shortly," B.G. said. "I will deal with Marcus Reed later."

B.G. hung up and was set to go to the West, but he had no idea that he was about to be followed by someone whom he knew very well, or so he thought.

* * *

 **Note: I will get to the LA intro soon, and then I will officially start the story.**


	3. Introduction Part 2 (Los Angeles)

**Introduction part 2 (Los Angeles)**

 **Author's note: Here I am in my long overdue update of my True Crime story. While I had been focused on my Dead Rising stories, I never really lost my heart for this. It was not until recently that I had thought of something for my intro for Nick Kang. Plus, though this should have been addressed in the first chapter, I feel that this franchise has been long forgotten. Maybe this will be a way to bring it back to life. Let's hope that Activision might consider rebooting it.**

* * *

Los Angeles, Spring 2006.

 _L.A., the City of Angels, but I still have yet to find any angel around here. Some have also called it the "City of Dreams," but I have told an old friend of mine that dreaming will get you killed. It's amazing to see how ugly and beautiful this whole city is at the same time. The son of that old friend, Nick Kang, has seen the ugliness and beauty, whether it's dealing with crooks or even dealing the hot stars in these parts. I have looked at Nick as the son that I never had and his old man, Henry, would have been proud to see him avenge his death the way he did sometime ago. I sometimes wondered if after that, he would have left the life of a cop and be a martial arts instructor like his little brother Cary. But I can't tell Nick on what he should do. Besides, he wanted to be a cop just like his old man. He may do a great job in cleaning up the streets, but sometimes even the streets may get plagued by the evils from other parts of the country, and I know that my pal Nick can do it the only way he could._

 _-George Sherman, Los Angeles Police Department._

It was a day like any other in the City of Dreams for Nick Kang, as he walked on his beat like any other cop would. Detectives, uniformed cops, even meter maids were always walking the streets and when crime hits, it was a sign that someone needed to go right for it.

It was an afternoon on a Wednesday, and Nick went to a bank in Downtown Los Angeles. It was a day when he had to make a deposit of his paycheck. Plus, with crime being low in that part of town, he had to find something to do.

Nick worked for the Elite Operations Division, which was a division of the LAPD that had a city-wide jurisdiction. He could go to various parts of the city, ranging from Beverly Hills to Watts, and he would have jurisdiction to break up the crime that was happening at that very moment. Being that he had a rather unorthodox brand of justice, it would be safe for some criminals not to mess with him.

It was a slow day at the bank as Nick walked up to the first teller he saw, which was an attractive young woman. He slowly approached the counter with half a smile on his face.

"Hey there, gorgeous," Nick said. "What do you say if I cash this check and I take you to dinner?"

The teller's face started to get red as she let out a minor chuckle at that remark he made.

"I'm flattered, but I think I should do my job," she said. "Plus, I have a boyfriend."

"What does he that I have that I don't have?" Nick slyly replied. "I bet he doesn't have a badge like I do." He then flashed his badge to show who he was.

Though the teller tried to be professional and do her job, there was little to resist in Nick's charm. After all, Nick had a swagger about him that the ladies loved, even if he was a danger to criminals and civilians alike.

Just then, three armed and masked men walked in through the front door of the bank. The main guy had a standard ski mask on and was wielding an MP5, while the other two, who had a hockey mask and the other had sunglasses and a bandana covering his face, were brandishing a SPAS-12 shotgun and an AK-47 respectively.

"Alright everyone, this is a fucking raid!" said the main robber. "Don't anybody fucking move, or I'll blow your fucking heads off!"

Nick had no choice but to get down on the floor, but because he had dealt with much worse threats during his time as a cop, he was no stranger to anything like this.

"Where's the, uh, manager?" the main robber said, as he trembled. "I need to find the manager so that we could take all the money."

The machine gun-wielding robber yelled, "Take us to the safe and nobody gets hurt."

The machine gun robber looked towards the teller that Nick flirted with. "Hey, beautiful, show us where the money is and I'll let you go."

The teller shook as she whimpered and a tear trickled down her face. She got out from behind the counter and did what the robber asked her. A lot of the patrons at the bank shook and whimpered at what was going on in front of them. Nick looked at around and noticed something irregular about all of this: the shotgun robber just stood there frozen with his weapon drawn, but was not aiming the gun at anybody. The way the main guy talked gave him an idea that this stickup was their first time, or at least they haven't knocked off a lot of banks, if any. Knocking off a bank was a lot different than knocking off a liquor store or supermarket.

Though he was outnumbered, Nick was not about to let this go unpunished. Nick slowly crawled on the floor. The shotgun guy just stood there. He didn't bother to look to his right, as Nick slowly moved on the floor. The guy continued to look in front of him, as Nick crawled behind him and got to his feet and drew his Desert Eagles that he often carried. He could think of two options to at that moment, either try grabbing the robber from behind and drawing attention to the other two robbers. Or he could knock that one out and try going after the other two. It was now or never.

Nick grabbed the shotgun robber by the neck and fired a warning shot in the air. The gunshot alerted everyone in the bank. The robbers and the teller were close to the safe. The moment they heard the shot, they immediately turned around and the teller ran away from them and went to set off the alarm.

The alarm started blaring, and the main robber with the submachine gun saw the teller and drew his gun and pointed it right towards her. Just when he was about to pull the trigger, he felt something hit his right shoulder and blood squirted right out of there.

"What the fuck?" he said, and then turned around and saw Nick holding their crew member in a human shield position. The same two robbers drew their guns and pointed it right at Nick and their cohort.

"Ah ah ah, you do that and your friend gets it," Nick said.

"Who are you, some kind of hero or something?" the main robber said.

"No, I am an EOD agent," Nick said. "And right now, you're all under arrest."

"Fuck you!" the main robber said as he and the other robber drew their guns. Just as they were ready to shoot, Nick pistol-whipped the hostage on his head and then dropped to the ground as they were about to open fire. Nick quickly reacted and jumped behind a pillar. The two ran right out into the main floor. The robber with the AK saw the teller from before and pointed his gun right to her head.

"Say good night, bitch," he said. Nick quickly got out from behind the pillar and pointed one of his guns to the left leg of that robber and then pulled the trigger. The guy screamed and fell to the ground as blood spurted from his calf. The teller watched and shook as she saw what just happened. Nick ran towards him and saw the rifle and kicked it away from him before he tried anything else.

"Try anything funny and you're dead," Nick said. "Now where's your buddy?"

The main robber hid behind another pillar, but Nick looked up and saw a line behind it that matched the color of that guy's clothes. He quickly got up and ran towards the pillar and put his back against it with his Eagles drawn. Nick slowly strafed around and brandished his gun on his left hand and pointed it right at the head of the main robber.

"Drop it, asshole," he said. "Or your ass is toast."

The robber dropped his gun, and despite having a gun to his head, he elbowed Nick right in the gut and then sucker-punched him right in the face. Nick then dropped his guns in the process, but it wasn't enough to faze him.

The robber then popped his knuckles and put up a stance.

"Ooh, tough guy, aren't you?" Nick said. "Okay, we could do this the easy way," as he pointed his handcuffs. "Or we could do this the hard way." Nick then put up a fighting stance. Everyone in the bank looked at him like he was crazy.

The robber threw the first punch but Nick quickly dodged the attack. The robber then threw a few more punches as Nick dodged and blocked a few more of them and was then met with kick to the legs and a punch to the face and a kick to the wounded right shoulder, which caused the robber to scream. Angry at the pain, the robber then rushed towards Nick and tried to tackle him. He grabbed him by the legs and slammed him to the ground and then tried to punch him, but missed as Nick moved his head and caused the fist to hit ground, as the robber screamed in pain again. Nick quickly slid from under and got to his feet.

Nick jumped up and did a karate yell and he delivered a strong front kick to the robber's face, knocking him back and to the ground.

"You have the right to be in extreme pain," Nick said in a smug tone.

However, the robber was not done yet, as he saw one of Nick's pistols on the floor and picked it up and then pointed it right at his face.

"You know you're looking at life if you kill a cop," Nick said as he drew his other pistol and pointed it right at his face. "I have question for you, do you feel lucky? Well, do you?" As he point the gun right to his forehead. "Punk?"

It was then that Nick used the gun to pistol-whip him on the arm so that the robber could drop the gun and Nick then yelled out "FINISH HIM!" as he delivered a hard dropkick that sent the guy flying to the ground. The main robber was now defeated.

Nick wasted no time as he got out a set of handcuffs and cuffed the main robber.

"No one ever touches my guns, no one!" he said. He then cuffed the other two, especially the one he knocked out first. But then something irregular drew his attention as he noticed his unconscious body. A bag of what appeared to be an unfamiliar drug caused Nick to get close and see what it was.

 _What is THIS shit? Never seen it before._ Nick put the bag in his jacket and promised that he would take it as evidence.

He got to his feet. "Okay, everyone, show is over, let's give me a round of applause." All the tellers, security, and patrons got up and were relieved. The attractive teller approached Nick.

"Thank you so much, Detective Kang," the teller said. "Here's my number if you want it." The name said Tina Ferguson.

"Really? Would your boyfriend like that?"

"Okay, that was a little lie; I don't have a boyfriend actually. I just said that because I get hit on all the time here."

"Well, looks like I got what you need, honey," Nick said. "Just call me Nick, okay?"

Everyone started walking out of the bank to a crowd of police cars and uniformed cops. Each and every cop noticed that all of the employees and patrons were okay, while the last to come out were the three handcuffed robbers, who were now unmasked as they were shoved outside, and finally Nick was the last to exit as he pat his hands in victory.

One of the cops looked up in shock and disgust. "Kang, I should have known!"

The cop then approached Nick in rage. "What the hell is going on here, Kang? There better not be any bodies in there!"

"Whoa, who pissed in your coffee this morning, Johnson?" he said. "I was just doing my job. No one is dead and this was all in a day's work."

The media had come to the bank to get some coverage of the failed heist that Nick had thwarted. As soon as he got away from the press and fellow police officers, he got out the little bag he confiscated from one of the robbers. He tried to identify what the drug was, but he just couldn't. He had only one option for his question to be answered.

 **One hour later.**

Nick had arrived back to the EOD headquarters and walked in to a hero's welcome. Everyone in the department applauded him after it had been said that he singlehandedly taken down a robbery, even though Nick suspected that the robbers were amateurs.

"Oh, well thanks everyone, but it was really no big deal," Nick said.

An older African-American woman with an afro approached him at that moment.

"Okay, everyone, back to work," the woman said. "Hey, Nick. So how did it go?"

"It went fine, Chief, but I found something on one of the robbers that seems weird," Nick then got out the bag. "It must be some kind of drug, but I have never seen something like this before."

Chief looked at the drugs and even she was unable to identify the drug, but had an idea on what it could be. "I think I might have heard about this, but I can't be too sure. It looks like a drug called 'Pop,' which I think is the new drug on the streets."

"Pop?" Nick said. "I think I've heard about that drug, too, but I had never seen it before. If I recall, didn't that drug come from Japan and made its way to New York?"

"I think so," Chief said. "But I can't be too sure. I might have to have the people at the crime lab figure this out. It seems that it had just recently gotten out here in L.A., but it seems that we may have to stop it before it becomes an even bigger problem."

"I think I might know a way to get some information," Nick said. "Where are those guys being held?"

"Oh no, Nick," Chief said. "I don't know if you should do that."

"One of those robbers seemed kind of off earlier when trying to stick up the crowd, he didn't notice me when I got to him," Nick said. "He has to know where he got the drug."

"Okay, but if you use your ways against him, we're not going to be held accountable for your actions," Chief said.

As Nick walked away, an attractive Latina cop approached the Chief and watched as he went towards the holding cell.

"Hey. Chief Parks, what's with Nick?" the Latina cop said.

"Rosie," Chief Parks said. "Nick found some drugs on one of the robbers he arrested today. It might be the latest drug that is on the streets. We think it may have come from New York."

"New York?" Rosie said. "I think I have heard of this drug. It seemed that Lionel Jones, the record producer, was out there was dealing in a drug called Pop."

"I think I have heard that he was caught doing that," Chief Parks said. "But we can't be too sure. I will have the lab guys look at it."

"Anyway, Chief, I wanted to talk to you about something," Rosie said. "I was thinking about getting back on the streets. I had been working at the desk on and off ever since I started here and I think I might be ready to work the streets again."

"Well, maybe this case might be a start for you to get back," Parks said. "But I don't know if Nick wants a partner."

"It doesn't have to be with Nick," Rosie said. "I just want to go out there and bust some criminals and investigate crimes. I think I can do it."

"I'll keep you posted," Chief Parks said.

Suddenly, a phone rings nearby. Someone picked it up.

"Hello, this is the Elite Operations Division of the LAPD, how may I help you?" the cop said.

The person on the other line said, "Hello, is Chief Wanda Parks in the office today?"

"Yes, she is. May I ask who is calling?"

"My name is Lieutenant Deena Dixon of the PDNY Street Crimes Unit. I would like to speak to her right now."

"Hold on one moment," the cop said. "Hey, chief, someone is calling for you, someone from the PDNY."

Chief Parks turned around. "We'll talk more about this later, Rosie. I have to take this call."

Chief Parks went into her office and then answered the call.

"This is Parks."

"Hello, this is Lieutenant Deena Dixon of the PDNY Street Crimes Unit. I am calling to inform you that one of my detectives may come to L.A. and work with you guys as part of the police exchange program."

"I'm listening," Parks said.

"Well, this is just between you and I," Dixon said. "My detective is in grave danger around here and I don't know how long he has until someone may kill him. My unit and the Organized Crime Unit, as well as the feds will look into who wants to kill him. Until we get to the bottom of it, I would like to have him work with you guys. Plus, it will show him something new than his usual grounds."

"We can do that, what's your detective's name?" Chief Parks said.

"His name is Marcus Reed," Dixon said. "He is a good cop and gets the job done."

"I will get a file on him soon," Parks said. "Now that you mention it, it seems that a drug from your neck of the woods had come down here. Are you familiar with Pop?"

"I had heard about something like this," Dixon said. "Marcus found out about something like this in a case he busted sometime ago. Maybe he can tell what you need to know. I will send you his file through email. Make sure you get it."

"You got it, I will keep in touch," Parks said and then hung up.

The question on Chief Parks' mind at that moment was who she could have partner up with Detective Reed. Though she was told that Rosie wanted to get back on the streets, she wasn't sure if that would be a good choice. Her inbox got a new message. She opened it up and got the file on Marcus Reed.

From what she saw, it stated that Reed had quite an arrest record. He had broken up some major drug deals, arms deals, counterfeiting rings, prostitution rings, and also taken down four major gangs in Manhattan. He had made first grade detective in the Street Crimes Unit. With a record like this, she could think of only one person who would be suited to partner up with him.

Meanwhile, in the interrogation room, the shotgun-wielding robber, now unmasked, sat there nervously awaiting his interrogation. He didn't have as menacing of a look like the other two robbers did. He was as menacing as the fourth member of their crew, who was nothing more than the driver, but he was caught by other cops patrolling the area, but ran red lights and crashed his car before he could get away.

The guy sat behind a table with his head down. He couldn't face anything that was about to come to him, but he had to deal with it no matter what. Nick walked into the interrogation room.

"Ray Miller, huh? Well now, you're no longer the bad boy who tried to stick up the bank," Nick let that out as soon as he walked in and sat on a chair. "I can see that you don't want to talk. Fine, I could let you out and join your boys in the holding cell and become someone's bitch in the process, but I don't want to talk about the robbery. The thing I want to talk about was a little bag that I saw fall out of your pocket DURING the robbery."

Once that was said, Ray looked up and faced Nick with so much shock on his face. It was then that he realized where the drugs went.

"What are you talking about? What do you know?" he said with so much worry in his voice and started to shake.

"That's what I want to talk to you about," Nick said. "You say I could take you down for the robbery, but you're looking at harder time for possession of narcotics."

Ray sat there and shook some more.

"What's the matter? Never done time before?" Nick said. "I don't blame you for being scared. After all, the big house is a scary place and for a guy like you, it's going to be really hard living there."

"Y-you don't u-understand," he said. "I am shaking because I need to get high."

"Ah, going through withdrawals, I see," Nick retorted in a smart tone. "I don't blame you. You know your sentence could be reduced if you tell me where you got the drugs from."

"You think I'm going to snitch?" Ray said.

"Your boys had none of that shit on them," Nick said. "Compared to you, they might be facing some years for trying to knock off a bank, but you? You're looking at something more for carrying drugs, PLUS your involvement in your so-called score. You could get the same amount of time as your friends if you tell me who supplied you with the drugs. You see, I know where they came from. They came from New York, but also originated in Japan. What I want to know is how they came from the Eastside, as they also came from farther East. To me, it sounds like some guys around here are dealing with some drugs that were sent here and the supplier may have had a deal with some scumbags in NYC."

Ray then looked up directly at Nick from that remark. "A-as far as I…know, I met some guys who were working with Russian gangsters. They only gave some samples at first, but at some point, I overheard one of the dealers talking about a bigger dealer coming from New York soon to bring out more of that shit that I was using. But that's all I know. I'm just a user, not a dealer."

"See now, was that really hard?" Nick said. "Be a good boy, and you might get a good lawyer."

Nick then walked out of the interrogation room and headed straight for one person: the chief. He entered her office with something he needed to say.

"Hey, Chief, you got a minute?" he said. "I got something about the drugs that one guy was carrying."

Chief Parks looked up and then approached him. "Nick, you're just the guy that I wanted to talk to. I got off the phone with someone from the PDNY. It seems that we will be having one of their officers working with us. He might know something about the drug."

"That's fine, but who would he be working with?" Nick looked and saw Rosie. "Maybe he could work with Rosie. After all, she has been begging to leave her desk."

"Actually, I think he would work with someone with a little more experience and someone who needs to be watched in case anything bad were to happen," Chief Parks said.

"Oh, I get that, you never know if anybody from the East can be trusted around here, our cops know more and…"

"I was talking about you, Nick."

"Oh, okay. For a minute there, I thought maybe…wait, what?"

"The New York detective will be working with you," Chief said. "The lieutenant said that he is one of the finest from the Big Apple and being that you know the city, you can show him around."

"Look, I don't have time to babysit anyone and you know that I work alone. I can crack this whole case with my two bare hands."

"Listen, I decided that you are an experienced cop and I checked his file," Chief said. "He has quite an arrest record that you need to see for yourself."

Chief Parks turned her monitor so that Nick could see on the screen on what his partner had to offer. Nick looked at the file and the amazement in his system ran wild at the arrest record of Marcus Reed.

"Okay, I'm impressed," he said. "But I don't think we should work together. Guys from New York and me, we just don't mix."

"Save it, Nick, I already made my decision," Chief Parks said. "Detective Reed should be here soon. I have made some arrangements to have some of our guys to give Reed a good welcome to L.A., and because you will be his partner, I am going to have you join in on this."

The word "reluctance" was what described Nick at that moment. He was unsure if he wanted to work with anybody on this case, let alone someone from the Big Apple, but because Detective Reed may have had more knowledge about the drug, he may be some help on it. As reluctant as Nick was to do this, there was bright side to it, too.


	4. Meet Your New Partner

**Meet Your New Partner**

 **Author's note: Here I am in my fourth chapter. This will mainly be in Marcus's perspective. One more thing, I am going with references to the good cop ending from "True Crime: New York City" on this, just like how I am doing the good ending from "True Crime: Streets of LA."**

* * *

After Marcus had gone over to La Guardia Airport to aboard a plane that was headed to Los Angeles International, better known as LAX, there were so many things on his mind.

Years ago, it was hard for him to leave the criminal life to move into the other side of the law. His mentor, Terry Higgins, took him under his wing to turn his life around. Though there had been signs that Marcus's past had resurfaced, even when he had a badge to flash. He spent some time at the academy and went to become a beat cop at some point. Then later on, he applied to work for the Organized Crime Unit, as Marcus wanted to make detective, but then other problems had occurred which then led to him working with Street Crimes again.

However, he still made detective and became a First Grade detective after he had singlehandedly managed to wipe out the crime element in certain parts of Manhattan. He also took down four major crime syndicates in Manhattan on his own, with little support, too. If anything, he had become more used to working on his own than with a partner.

But recently, he had found out that someone from his past wanted him dead. He had no idea why. From what Marcus remembered, he and Bobby Green were lifetime rivals. The same could be said about their fathers, though it had been speculated that they had a better relationship before everything fell apart. It was bad enough Bobby somehow blamed his father's death on the Reed family, as well as when Marcus had busted his brother and was now serving time. Marcus had nothing to do with his father's death, but that didn't mean that Marcus's father didn't have anything to do with it. Nobody knew anything about that.

In any case, it would be considered a disgrace if someone with a criminal upbringing decided to go to the other side of the law. However, Isaiah, Marcus's father, happened to be friends with Terry, despite their standings with the law. Terry was a father-figure to him, until Marcus found out that Terry not only faked his own death, but also used him as a pawn to get the gangs off the streets. Terry turned out to be crooked, but had a gray way of looking at things.

Isaiah never really looked at his own son as a disgrace. If anything, he was proud of how he managed to go from a criminal to a cop. Despite all of that, Marcus maintained his ties to his father's gang because of his old man.

Though Marcus had arrested a lot of criminals, the crime element in NYC was far from done. What was unsettling about this too was that his past was just now coming back to haunt him. He suspected that even his criminal past somehow resurfaced while doing his job, but even he knew his limits.

Marcus knew that he couldn't escape his past, but the question on his mind was why someone would target him if he hadn't thought about that person in some time. He was set to find out, as he was about to go the City of Angels to get to the bottom of it. Though Dixon had said that he would be working with someone to try to find out about a drug that had been plaguing the streets, Marcus had one goal in mind: to bring down Bobby Green, dead or alive.

He was about to enter unfamiliar territory, so this would be quite a step for him. Whoever he would work with better know the area well. It probably would be the same thing if it were the other way around. He was in for the ride of his life.

Unlike a lot of people, Marcus knew that Los Angeles had a gang element down there, so he never perceived that city as all of the glitz and glamour that the media presented it as.

It took some time but the plane had landed in LAX. Marcus walked off the plane, decked out with his baggy jeans, black leather jacket with the red fire symbol on the back, white shoes, and of course, his PDNY badge. He was out of his element here, but really, the only thing he wanted was to bring down Bobby Green, but it may not be an easy task.

The African-American cop walked out into the terminal and then received a call.

"Hello?" he said.

"Marcus, it's Dixon," she said.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Listen, it's been set up that you will meet someone at LAX," Dixon said. "It will be Wanda Parks with the LAPD's Elite Operations Division. Parks will let you know who you will work with."

"They already got a partner for me? I don't know about this."

"It's not up to me, it's up to them," she said. "Parks found a partner for you. He is said to be one of the best cops in LA."

"I'll see about that," Marcus said. "Keep me posted if you find anything on who tried to kill me."

"I'll be in touch," Dixon said.

Marcus then hung up his phone and looked around and saw an African-American woman with a sign that said "REED" on it. With her was a Latina cop.

"Hello, are you with the LAPD?" Marcus said.

"Yes, you must be Marcus Reed," the black woman said. "I am Chief Wanda Parks." She looked over at the younger cop. "This is Rosie Velasco."

Rosie extended her arm out. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Same here," Marcus said and shook her hand. "Where are we going?"

"Your partner was supposed to meet us here," Chief said. "I wonder where he could be."

Rosie then leaned over towards the ear of the chief and whispered into it. The chief told the New York detective that his partner got caught up in something, though something told her otherwise. In either case, the two lady police officers escorted Marcus to the EOD headquarters.

 **30 minutes later.**

Marcus, Parks, and Rosie had made their arrival to headquarters. It was a long drive from LAX to get there, but LA is a big city. Marcus looked around and noticed that it was not completely different from New York City. Like his neck of the woods, there was the good, the bad, and the ugly parts. Though it was different in terms of style and setting, he was sure that the crime element and the glitz were similar.

"Hey, Chief," Rosie said when she walked to up to her. "I just heard from Nick. He's on his way back. He found some more leads."

"Sounds like the Nick I know," Chief said.

An elderly policeman walked up to Parks and Marcus.

"Hello, Chief, who is this?" the old man said.

"Oh, hey, George," Chief said. "This here is Marcus Reed from the PDNY. He will be helping us solve the drug case that Nick's working on."

"Drug case?" Marcus said.

"Oh, sorry I didn't fill you in," Chief said. "My detective found some drug from your area. I believe it's called Pop."

 _Pop? How did it get out here?_ Marcus thought. It then occurred to him not that entire drug was taken away even after he put the Presidents Club away nearly a year ago. It made him wonder if any if the people who worked for Lionel Jones managed to escape and continued making that drug. After all, it did originate in Japan.

He also wondered if the person he was after had anything to do with the drug. Even it was, he can't confirm it.

"I am familiar with that drug," Marcus said. "I just don't know how it got out here. But I think I might have an idea."

"New York, huh?" George said. "Well, you might hate this town very soon, kid. LA is full of whackos and nutjobs everywhere."

"New York is the same way, with a bunch of whackos and nutjobs everywhere, too and I put some of them away," Marcus said. "By the way, you sound just like someone who I know."

"Really? People tell me I sound like this one actor," George said. "I forget his name, but he was in that one movie called 'King of New York,' or was it that movie with that British spy that took place in France and San Francisco? I can't remember, but people tell me that I sound like him all the time."

"Nah, it ain't that guy," Marcus said. "It's some fed who I worked with sometime ago. Kind of a weird guy, but I don't think you would know him."

"Really, that's cool," George said. "It's great meeting you, by the way."

Through the front door walked in a man who appeared half-Chinese and half-Caucasian. He stormed right into the precinct and walked towards Chief Parks, George, and Marcus.

"Nick, where were you earlier?" Chief said. "You were supposed to be at LAX earlier."

"Traffic was a bitch, and I got caught up in some shit," Nick said. "I went to get myself coffee and some guys just tried to rob the place, but I took them down." He looked over at Marcus. "Who's the perp?"

"What?" Marcus said. "Did you just call me a perp?" He flashed his badge. "Do I look like a perp to you?"

Chief said, "Meet your new partner, Marcus Reed. He will be helping us bring down the case involving that drug."

"Oh, you're the guy from the East," Nick said. "Can you get me a coffee? I couldn't get one because someone spoiled it for me."

"Fuck you," Marcus said.

"Nick, please," Chief said. "I already made my decision that you two will work together on this case. He said that he knows about this drug."

"I don't need to work with anyone on this," Nick said. "I work alone and the last thing that I need is for some 'hotshot cop' from the Big Apple to try to watch my ass." When he sarcastically said "hotshot cop," he moved his fingers like he was quoting someone.

"I got bigger fish to fry than to babysit people," he said.

"If this is a problem, I could just go," Marcus said.

"No," Chief said. "Your lieutenant informed me that you were in danger in New York. Besides, you can't crack this case on your own because you are out of your jurisdiction. You only have jurisdiction if you work with one of my best detectives. Nick is the guy."

The chief looked right at Nick and mouthed something to him. She and Nick walked away for a little bit. Marcus stood there and watched, while someone had walked up to him.

"Hey," a female voice said.

Marcus turned around and saw Rosie right there. "Oh, hey, just wondering, but what's with that guy?"

Rosie replied, "Nick? He just has some issues. He's not so bad if you get to know him."

"I figured that," Marcus sarcastically said. "This will be a good partnership for both of us."

"Give it time," Rosie said. "He's a bit of a loose cannon, too. So watch yourself with him."

 _Loose cannon, huh?_ Marcus thought. _He don't know shit about what I've been through. I can definitely handle this guy._

"Anyway," Rosie said. "What's New York like? I've never been there."

"It's a big city, full of all kinds of shit," Marcus said. "Scumbags, hookers, big ass traffic, you name it."

"So it's not much different from here," Rosie said. "You'll probably get used to it around here in no time."

"I don't know," Marcus said. "The streets of Manhattan are no walk in the park, and I don't just mean Central Park, either."

Rosie chuckled at that remark.

Nick and the chief went into her office to discuss something. The moment the door closed, she let it all out.

"Look, Nick, I know you don't want to do this, but as your superior, you have to do what I say here. Reed knows something about this drug and can try to find who the supplier is. You are more experienced than he is and has quite an arrest record for a rookie detective. If you fuck up, it's in my hands. I can't allow that to happen."

Nick took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll work with him. If he knows something, then I'll have to take your word for it."

 _I bet he won't be able to handle the shit I go through._ He thought.

"That's what I wanted to hear, Nick," Chief said. "I want you to show him around the area. Also" Parks had found a picture that someone took with the man who Nick busted previously. "That guy you arrested was seen trying to buy some drugs somewhere. Maybe this might be a lead on the dealers."

It appeared that Ray, the man who Nick arrested, had him be an informant if he were to get a reduced sentence. While it seemed that he was addicted to the drug, he didn't want to do more time compared to the guys he was in the robbery with. So he went in to try to get some info on the dealers.

Nick took another look at the picture. He looked closer, too, like maybe there was something familiar about one of the gangsters. Maybe not so much that he had met him before, but more that he looked like someone he knew. But he couldn't make out who it could be.

"I was told that this took place near a Mick's in Santa Monica," Chief said.

"Man, and I thought that going to a place like that is bad for you," Nick said.

"Nick, this isn't time for jokes," Chief said, who then showed him a picture with the license plate number. "I'll keep you up to date if we find anything."

"I forgot to mention this," Nick said. "He said something about Russian gangsters. Maybe they might be the ones supplying it. I should go look."

"Niiiick," Chief said sternly.

"Okay, WE should go look," Nick said in an unwilling tone.

He got up and exited the chief's office and then saw Marcus standing there with Rosie.

"Come on, let me show you around," Nick said. "Let's see how you like it around here."

The two detectives walked into the police garage to find one of the cars that Nick uses. He had a few to choose from, but one that stood out to him was a yellow sports car.

"Damn, what kind of ride is this?" Marcus said.

"This is the kind of ride that gives you the need for speed," Nick said. "And also to catch up to some scumbags who try to outrun us."

The two entered the car with silence.

"I'm going to tell you right now," Nick said. "I am sure you don't want to do this anymore than I do. But out of respect for the chief, I am going to tell you to not to get in my way if some bad shit goes down. I am bad and you don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me."

"That sounds like something I heard from a movie," Marcus said. "Well, I don't want this anymore than you do, either. I mean you don't know about any of the shit I'm capable of."

"I've looked at your record," Nick said. "I was impressed with what you have done, but that ain't got shit on what I have done."

"We'll just see about that," Marcus said.

Nick started the car and two took off. The moment they left the garage, Nick's cellphone started to ring. The contact said "Cary."

"Hey, little brother," Nick said. "What's going on?"

"Nick, can you come by my dojo soon?" Cary said. "I need to talk to you."

"I'm kind of busy right now," Nick said. "Can you just talk to me about it here?"

"No, it can't wait," Cary said. "I don't know who else to turn to. I usually don't ask for help like this, but it has to do with one of my students."

"Okay, no problem, I'll be by shortly," Nick said.

Nick closed the flip phone.

"Who was that?" Marcus said.

"Why do you care?" Nick said.

"I'm just trying to make conversation," Marcus said.

"That was my brother, he needs us to go to his martial arts school right now," Nick said.

Marcus sat there in silence and confusion, but he was about to join his new partner on this trip. He already felt that he did not like this new partnership already. But only time will tell before anything else comes up.

* * *

 **Another note: Regarding Marcus's interaction with George, it was actually a reference to the fact that George and Whitting were both voiced by Christopher Walken.**

 **Mick's was a fast food restaurant in "True Crime: New York City" that Marcus could go into to get extra health. Because I like to think that the two games were set in the same continuity, I am putting the names of restaurants and businesses in this story.**

 **Also, this may have been a short chapter, but it was to show how the two would interact at first before any action comes their way.**


	5. A Brotherly Matter

**A Brotherly Matter**

 **Author's note: I know it's been a while since I have updated this. I was focused on other projects but I am back and will try updating it more often than before.**

* * *

After 20 minutes, Nick and Marcus found their way to a martial arts school. Nick's brother Cary owned a lot of establishments, as his dojo had gotten other locations in certain parts of LA. But Cary only taught at one school, and Nick and his new, albeit reluctant partner went into the school to speak to the martial arts instructor.

It was clear that the two detectives didn't get along at first glance, so they spent the entire car ride in dead silence. It would almost seem that this type of environment would be too much for Marcus.

Then again, unlike the general perception of the City of Angels, Marcus was aware that the city had bad parts, like Watts, Compton, Whittier, Florencia, etc. There are bad areas in various parts of the country, as well as the world. So far all he knows, there may even be some bad seeds growing something rotten in this part. With him now having knowledge that a drug that a well-known record producer was dealing now having made it to the other side, it could only get worse from here on in.

"What are we doing here?" This was the first thing that Marcus said since getting in the car with Nick roughly 20 minutes ago.

"This is my brother's school, he said he wants to talk to me about something, so we're just going in to just that," Nick replied. "You don't want to do this? Then get out."

"Man, shut up, let's see what your brother's got to say." It's no secret that Marcus already didn't like Nick, but he wasn't about to let a smart-aleck cop talk down to him like that.

Nick led the way for the two cops to get in. "Cary? It's Nick. Where are you?"

The two cops looked around and saw that it had a yellow padded mat in the center, with some punching bags hanging around. Out from the back area, a Chinese-American man in a jacket and a gi underneath started walking out.

"Nick, there you are," the man said.

"Cary, what's going on? You said that this couldn't wait," Nick said.

"I have something that I need to tell you," Cary said and then looked towards Marcus. "And who is this?"

Marcus replied. "Hello, I'm Detective Marcus Reed. I'm working with your brother on a case."

"He's from New York," Nick quickly interrupted, as Marcus turned his attention to his partner with his eyes squinted a tad.

Cary started talking. "Okay, big brother, I called you here because a student of mine needs some help. You see, one day I noticed that she had a black eye when she came to class one day. I approached her and she told me that it has something to do with her boyfriend."

"So her boyfriend is beating her?" Nick said.

"She didn't say anything about that, but she had told me that her boyfriend got mixed up with the wrong crowd. She said something about her boyfriend dealing in drugs and then got into some heavy stuff, like maybe criminal activity, maybe dealing drugs, I am not sure. But she wouldn't tell me where she got that shiner from."

Marcus stood around and looked at the facility, while the two brothers continued talking.

"I see, can you give me a name of you student?" Nick asked.

Cary responded, "Her name is Vivian Shen."

Out of nowhere, Marcus looked up and turned his attention towards Nick and Cary. "Hold up, did you just say Vivian Shen?"

This had to have been a coincidence or maybe someone with the same name, but then Marcus remembered a letter that he got from a person with that same name. This person noted that she was living in the West Coast. The address came from Los Angeles. This can't be a coincidence, it just can't.

"Yes, I did," Cary said. "Do you know someone with that name?"

"Yes, I do," Marcus said and then pulled out his wallet and found the same picture that she had sent him in the mail. "Is this her?"

The Kang brothers took a closer look at the photo. It was amazing that Marcus not only held onto the photo that he was given, but also had it with him at that very moment.

"How do you know her?" Cary said.

"Let's just say that I had dealt with some shit involving her fucked-up family in NYC," Marcus said.

The last thing he expected was for someone he had crossed paths with was to not only be in the city, but also get mixed up in criminal activity. When Marcus went after the Shadow Tong, he was able to see that this girl was mixed up as she was born into the life, but didn't want to be. That explained why she tried to run away with some weird gothic cult.

"Do you know where we can find this young lady?" Nick said.

"From what I know, she works at a Chinese bistro in Chinatown," Cary said. "But that area is full of Triads."

"I am not afraid of the Triad," Nick said. "Besides, I gained the trust of the Triad at one point."

"Wait, I have a question myself," Marcus butted in. "Has this girl mentioned anything of what her boyfriend is involved in? You mentioned drugs earlier. What drugs is he dealing?"

Cary replied, "She seemed timid when she told me, but she gave me an idea that these guys are bad news. One person who has been assisting me lately as part of her community service probably has some ideas. She has also been helping with the instructing as she is also a martial artist herself. She seems to know about some criminal activity going on."

"Who is this person that we can talk to?" Marcus said.

"Lola Gees," Cary said.

"Hold up, did you say Lola Gees?" Marcus said in a surprised tone. "The same girl from the 'Con Girls' TV show?"

"The very same," Nick said. "But I don't think she wants to talk to me."

"Why is that?" Marcus said.

"Because I busted her for taking part in a heist a while back," Nick said. "A good example of life imitating art, except she thought that she could get away with it until I managed to catch her."

"I heard that she got into some shit, but god damn," Marcus said.

"Well, we'll try to look for this girl soon," Nick said. "In the meantime, my partner and I are going to pay Lola a little visit."

"One more thing, Nick," Cary said. "It seems that Vivian works at that restaurant in the later afternoon to the evening on some days. I think today is one of them. So you and your partner might have a good chance to talk to her."

"Well, Cary, thank you for bringing this to our attention," Nick said. "Now we should get going. Keep me posted if you find anything else."

"You got it, big brother," Cary said.

Marcus turned towards the martial arts teacher. "It was nice meeting you, by the way."

"Same here," Cary said.

The two detectives exited the dojo headed towards Nick's car. Kang started it up while Reed sat in the passenger seat.

Nick drove the car a few blocks. They were on their way to go visit the disgraced actress. The car was full of dead silence again, until…

"So tell me something," Nick said. "You seemed to know my brother's student. You said something about her 'fucked-up family' and all that shit. What happened?"

Marcus then turned his attention towards him with a look on face that said "What kind of question is that?"

"Hey, I'm just trying to make conversation," Nick said. "You don't need to give me that look."

"First of all, why did you have to tell your brother that I'm from New York like that?"

"Because you _are_ from New York."

Marcus replied, "But you didn't need to go out of your way to let him know that. That was kind of rude."

"Okay, sorry I did that," Nick Kang. "I'm just not used to dealing with people from your neck of the woods."

Marcus looked towards the windshield. "Yeah, I get that and I'm the same way about all you LA people."

A quick silence emerged in that moment, but then Marcus started talking again.

"So you really want to know, huh? I'll tell you," Marcus said. "A while back, I dealt with the Shadow Tong out in Chinatown in Manhattan. That girl in the picture, the same one your brother teaches karate or kung fu, any of that shit, she was the stepsister of this fool who was leading the Tong. This fed I was working with told me about how the original leader had disappeared, but then it turned out he was killed. That girl tried to run away from her stepmother and her stepbrother. She said that they conspired to kill her father, who was the original leader. She even tried to run with a gothic cult or something. After her stepbrother and stepmother, and also the rest of the tong got busted, she moved out here last time I checked. But it seems that the life she led, some of that shit will come back to find her."

What he just said wasn't different than what he was going through. When those assassins tried to kill him, it turned out that they were connected to his old rival from his past. Was that man in LA? What will Marcus do when he sees him? The person who targeted him was still Marcus's motivation, but at the same time, he was going along for the ride to try cracking the case about the dealing of Pop. He still wondered how it even got to the other side of the country.

"Shit, after seeing that picture, I wouldn't have thought that she would look like a goth or anything like that," Nick said. "But you ain't seen nothing yet. Look out your window for example."

Marcus looked out the window and saw a group of Mexican youths with their hands against cars, as well as others lined up with their hands behind their heads and knelt to the ground while uniformed cops were searching them and writing them up.

"LA is the original concrete jungle," Nick said. "You got dealers, bangers, hustlers in various parts of the city. It's not all glitz and glamour. It's fucking wild out here."

"Yeah, yeah, but I know the streets," Marcus said. "Shit's pretty rough out where I'm from."

"Yeah, well, we shall see about that," Nick said. "You know what? We should put some music on."

Nick reached for the radio and it was on a commercial. The commercial that was playing was for a concert that was coming to the Staples Center, as it was an advertisement for the "Smoke Indo" Tour, with Snoop Dogg being the headliner, along with some of his guests like Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, Warren G, and more. Another person in the lineup who was heavily promoted was Redman, along with some acts.

It was going to take a bit for these two to get along, but they had only just met. It appeared that Nick didn't really appear fond of any New Yorkers, but Marcus only had one thing on his mind. He wanted to take down Bobby Green.

His superior would rather him not go after the person who wanted him dead, but no one knows where Green was. But it was only a matter of time until either of them were to find out that the other person was in the city. However, Marcus knew that he was in the city, but Bobby didn't.

But that wasn't the problem at the moment. Nick and Marcus were about to go visit someone who may know something. It almost seemed like she could be an informant. They were about to find out.

* * *

 **Another note: I am slowly getting back into this, so I had to stop here. Don't worry, there will be some action soon.**

 **I must note that I linked that short story I did of Vivian writing a letter to Marcus to this one. So she is going to be in this story. We didn't know what happened to her after the Shadow Tong story in "True Crime: New York City."**

 **As for Lola, yes, she is the same character from the "Poor Ending" path in "True Crime: Streets of L.A." For those that don't remember, she gets shot at some point, but being that this story follows the "Good Ending" path, she is alive. So why not put her in? Also, being that she was one of the toughest bosses in that game, I had to make it known that she was a martial artist herself. Besides, the TV show in the game that she was in sounded like an action show, so…well, you get the idea.**

 **The ad for a concert of Snoop Dogg and Redman is kind of a callback to the two games as Snoop and Redman were unlockable characters in Streets of LA and New York City, respectively.**

 **Also, when Nick and Marcus passed by the cops dealing with the youths, it was a reference to Training Day when Alonzo and Jake passed by those people who were lined up on the sidewalk.**

 **I plan to update this more soon.**


	6. Gaining Information

**Gaining Information**

* * *

It wasn't long until Nick and Marcus pulled up in front of a house in the middle of a suburban area. For someone who used to be in a hit TV show but was then cancelled, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise how far this person fell after that. Not to say that all famous people or rich people have to live lavishly.

It's often stereotyped that Californians all know celebs and live near beaches, when the state is much bigger than that and has a lot more cities than Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc. Hell, not all of LA is all glitz and glamour the way the media presents it.

The two detectives exit the yellow sports car and walked down the sidewalk towards the potential informant's home. All they were told was that she may possibly know something about the drug. Then again, some informants know more about what goes on than others. But they were about to find out.

"So this is Lola's spot, huh?" Marcus said. "Man, seems like the mighty fall a lot out here, huh?"

Nick responded. "Well, that's what happens when some celebrities get caught up some shit."

"I hear that," Marcus said. "I even once came across someone who wanted to be an actress or singer, but then she became a personal trainer for some Italian Mafioso or some shit. Let's go see what this girl has to say."

Being that Nick had busted Lola for taking part in a bank heist at some point, Marcus offered to knock on her door. He figured that Nick was the last person she would want to see anyway. So he went up and knocked on the door.

A female voice uttered, "Who is it?"

"It's the police, we just want to ask you some questions," Marcus said.

"Go away! I have nothing to say to you."

"Please, open up, we just have some questions to ask."

"Listen, just go away. I don't want to talk to you."

Marcus knocked a few times again. The door started to open. Nick signaled to his partner to move out of the way.

"Look, I'm telling you for the last time, I…" A woman stood in the doorway after the door opened. "What the…?" But had jumped and her eyes widened at the sight of what was in front of her.

"Hello, Lola, miss me?" Nick stood right in the doorway.

"You again, Kang? What the hell do you want?" Lola said. When Lola was on the show, she had her hair cut really short and dyed pink. But it's been a few years since the cancellation. Her hair was short but a little longer and the color looked more natural, as it appeared blonde. She was dressed like she had just rolled out of bed not too long ago. Also, what was noticeable was the bracelet that she had around her ankle. That could only mean one thing.

"Whoa, easy there, tiger," Nick said. "My partner and I want to ask you some questions."

Right when he said that, Marcus had walked inside.

"Yeah right, you're just gonna bust my shit like you always do," Lola said. "And who is this?" She said in a mildly seductive tone.

"I am Detective Marcus Reed of the PDNY. I am here to help out on a case."

Lola looked at him and gained a small smirk as her eyes shifted up and down. "I see now."

"Cut the bullshit, Lola," Nick said. "My partner and I are here to ask you a bunch of questions."

"What makes you think that I know anything?" Lola said.

"Oh come on, Lola, you seem to have an ear to the street and also have some idea on what's going on around here. Plus, even though you're locked up in your own home, it's not like you can't get any information."

What was said was true. Even when someone is locked up or on house arrest, sometimes the felon may have connections and a way to get information. Like Marcus's father for example. His father was in jail, but he still had power and influence to the outside.

"Says who?" the disgraced actress said.

"Let's just say a little bird told me," Nick said as he reached for his pocket and got out a little bag. "Do you know anything about this type of drug here? My partner here had busted some people in New York for pushing this shit on the streets."

Lola took a closer look. "Okay, Kang. From what I see, this is a new designer drug, at least out here. I have heard a little bit about this drug."

"Funny how you know stuff when you can't even leave your house," Nick sarcastically said.

"Hey, shut up, I have no choice but to be your snitch," Lola said. "Good thing I got house arrest and I can leave only to do my community service. It's hard to believe you and Cary are brothers."

"Well, my brother is a much nicer guy than I am," Nick said. "At least you're teaching kids and others martial arts. That's actually a smart thing for you to do."

Lola replied. "What else can I do? You're lucky that I like your brother, otherwise I would kick your ass like I almost did that one time."

"I'm lucky? You're lucky didn't get that much time for assaulting a police officer and almost doesn't mean shit in this situation," Nick said. "I still busted your ass. It's too bad your stripper buddy got away. She was a fast driver. The fact that you're on house arrest for taking part in a heist is too much of a stretch even for a scumbag like you. At least some of my backup snatched the rest of the crew."

"What does Gypsy have to do with this?" Lola said. "I am doing all this stuff for you so that I can get my anklet off and start over. Don't give me any shit about what I did, okay?"

"Enough, you two!" Marcus intervened and then faced Lola. "Look, I just want to know one thing. You see, this drug was about to plague to streets of Harlem and other parts of Manhattan. This shit was originated by the Yakuza. Somehow this drug came out here. All I want to know is who is supplying all of this shit out here. Who is the main supplier and what is their endgame?"

Lola looked at Marcus like she knew that he was not messing around. Though Nick can be no-nonsense himself, but he also talked down to some people. Marcus, on the other hand, wanted to get on with the case.

Lola had no choice but to answer the question. "This drug, from what I heard, is being moved by some Russians, who are also looking to other street gangs to spread it. I don't know who the main guy is, but this one girl who I have instructed, it seems that her boyfriend is dealing this drug."

Marcus busted out the photo once again. "Is this the girl?"

Lola took a closer look at the picture. "Yes, that's her. Why do you have a picture of her? Do you know her?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Marcus said. "We've met before. None of that's important right now. Do you know where we can find her?"

Lola replied, "Hold up, I don't know her that well."

Nick said, "Well you got to know if you know that her boyfriend is pushing that drug. Cary told me that you might know something."

"Okay, okay." Lola took a deep breath. "Just know this, Kang. I hope you talk to the judge and my lawyer sometime soon about getting this anklet off me soon. I hope that this is worth it. I don't know where to find Vivian. Some days she works at a restaurant, but then I started to think that she has some other side shit that she does. I heard that on some nights she is the flag waver on the street-racing circuit. I think Gypsy takes part in those races, and so does Vivian's boyfriend. That's all I know."

"You still talk to Gypsy, huh?" Nick said. "Does she still shake her ass on stage?"

"Yes, you'll find her at the Body Fantastique," Lola said.

"Well, looks we're getting the VIP treatment," Nick said. "I am also surprised that you're selling your friend out like this."

"I'm just telling you what you need to know about the drugs," Lola said. "That's all. That girl must know something."

Marcus said. "If you said this stripper is dancing tonight, then this could be some way for me to get closer to the racing action. After all, I broke up a street-racing circuit out in NYC. Shit, I'm the fucking champion, too. So maybe if your stripper friend and Vivian's boyfriend have anything to do with the racing, I have a way to get close."

"You, a racing champion?" Nick said. "I thought that it's hard to drive out in New York."

"Hey, man, shut up," Marcus said. "Look, I think I know a way to get in if that were the case. Maybe that girl Gypsy can find a connection so that I can get close to Vivian. She has to know something about the drugs. We need to get it off the streets. That shit will fry your brain."

"Okay, sounds like you got a plan," Nick said and then looked to Lola. "Thanks for all your help."

Lola scoffed. "Don't mention it. If I find anything else, I will call you, Kang."

"Looking forward to it, Lola," Nick said.

The two detectives left the informant's home. After they entered Nick's car, Nick had one thing to say.

"This feels too easy for all of us," Nick said. "We might crack this case soon and you'll be back in New York in no time."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Marcus said. "There is something missing in the puzzle. We about to find out what it is whether we like it or not."

"I have to hand it to you, Reed," Nick said. "You show a lot of resiliency in catching perps."

"You don't know the half of it…Kang." Marcus replied.

As soon as Nick started the car, the radio dispatcher had reported:

" _Attention, all units. Suspicious behavior has been seen around a neighborhood in Santa Monica. It's reason to believe that someone is in possession of narcotics or firearms. Please approach with caution."_

"Drugs? You thinking what I'm thinking?" Nick said.

"Exactly, but don't we need a warrant to do this?" Marcus asking this seemed a bit redundant as he had taken down multiple crime rings, with or without a warrant. Though warrants were issued once he got close to the big fishes of the robbery, prostitution, counterfeiting, and drug rings. Not to mention that he almost got killed when taking down some of the bigger crimes of those four crime rings.

"Not in this case," Nick said. "Besides, I know someone out there who I had busted a while back for dealing, but he cleaned up his act, or so he says. Let's take a ride."

"Where are we going?" Marcus asked.

"You'll see." Nick said.

Nick's alleged contact was out in Santa Monica and that wasn't far from where they were.

* * *

They finally arrived to their destination, which was an auto shop in Santa Monica. It was called "Discount Tire."

"Let's see what your boy's got to say," Marcus said.

"Let's find out," Nick said.

The moment they walked in, a middle-aged balding blonde man looked over at the two detectives.

"Shit, Kang, what are you doing here?" the man said. "I ain't done shit."

"Easy, Francis, we're not here for you," Nick said. "My partner and I are looking for Jojo."

"Jojo? Oh, you mean Joey," Francis said. "Man, he is out havin' a smoke."

"Thanks for the tip," Nick slyly said as Marcus followed him. Francis turned around and watched as the two walked towards the back-alley area with a look of derision on his face.

Nick and Marcus walked into the back area and saw a man who appeared to be in his mid-20s out having a cigarette with a couple of coworkers.

"Hey, Jojo," Nick said.

In that moment, the young man dropped his cigarette and the other two employees looked up.

"Fuck, it's the po-po!" one of the guys said.

"Relax, gentlemen," Nick said. "I'm just here to talk to Jojo."

Marcus then looked at him.

"Excuse me, I mean _we_ are here to talk to Jojo. You two, just skedaddle on back inside."

The other two employees went back inside as Jojo watched them walk away.

"What the fuck do you want, Kang?" Jojo said. "You can't come around my job like this, that's harassment!"

"I'm just checking up on you," Nick said.

Marcus added. "My partner here thinks you might know something about the newest drug that hit the streets. Are you a chemist? Cutting drugs and shit like that?"

"I don't know nothing about that," Jojo said. "I'm out of the drug business."

"You know nothing, huh?" Nick said. "Then what are you into?"

"Rubber, rubber, rubber!" Jojo replied. "I'm fully legit now."

"Legit, my ass," Marcus said. "I've seen guys like this where I'm from. Not all of them stay straight."

"Man, how the hell did you even get in here without a warrant?" Jojo said.

"Let's just say that Francis and I have some history," Nick said. "I was told about a drug deal going down at a Mick's somewhere close by yesterday. Do you know anything?"

"You really think that I know anything about that shit? Get the fuck out of here," Jojo said.

Nick pulled out the photo that was given to him sometime recently, which depicted the dealer giving someone the drug. Marcus then looked at the picture himself.

"Okay, I ain't into that shit no more," Jojo said. "I don't know shit about nothin', you hear?"

Nick and Marcus looked at each other with slight disbelief.

"Man, I don't need this shit," Jojo said and then turned around and walked back inside.

"You know, I busted your ass a while back," Nick said. "You could at least just keep an eye out for this."

Jojo turned around towards them. "Listen, I'm out of that shit. I'm trying to be on the straight path."

"Okay, but you better not be bullshitting us," Marcus said.

Jojo looked directly at Marcus. "You're partnered with this guy, huh? Just know one thing, be very careful and I would get out of here as soon as possible. This is one crazy motherfucker."

Nick let out a slight snicker. "I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much. Come on, let's go."

They left the tire and auto shop. Marcus started talking.

"What makes you so sure that this guy was hiding something?"

Nick responded as he was about to enter the driver's seat. "This guy did some time for cooking up meth and cooking heroin. Guys like that don't change their tune just like that."

"I hear that, but you'd be surprised that some people get their acts together," Marcus said as he was about to enter, but then he looked up. Right at the corner of Colorado Avenue and 4th Street, there stood a suspicious looking person. He stood right close to the Beach Mini Mart.

"Hey, Nick, let me see that picture again," Marcus said. Nick took out the photo and then Marcus took a closer look at the photo. Even with the photo being shot from a distance, the guy in the picture looked like the guy who was standing in the corner.

"I think that's the guy," Marcus said. Nick looked up and got out his camera to zoom in.

"Shit, you're right," Nick said. "Partner, you call it in. This guy's mine."

 _Man, why do I got to do this shit?_ Marcus said. But nonetheless, he picked up the radio. "I got a suspicious person on Colorado and 4th. My partner and I may need assistance, over."

Nick started running towards the suspect. The light was green as traffic was driving down Colorado Ave with the light on 4th St. being red.

Nick fired a warning shot and flashed his badge. "EOD! Hold it right there!"

The man was Caucasian and was wearing shades and dressed in a leather vest with a black shirt and dark blue pants. The moment he heard Nick call towards him, he got out a pistol from behind him and pulled the trigger a couple of times. Gunshots were fired and Nick quickly jumped to the ground.

Marcus was still right by the car and got on the radio once again. "Shots were fired. Please respond to this, over."

But he was not about to watch his partner go after him alone. The New York detective got out his piece and started running towards Nick, who had gotten up and started running towards the dealer.

Nick ran as fast as he could and fired his weapon towards the man, but none of the bullets connected. From a distance, the guy got out a phone. The man stopped for a bit, which opened a window for Nick, and also Marcus, to run after him.

The man started talking in Russian. ["Hey, some fucking pig is after me. I need to you to meet me somewhere on Colorado Avenue. I'll tell you where to meet me. Just hurry the fuck up!"]

He hung up and saw Nick going towards him. He continued to fire his gun towards him. The suspect turned around and saw a woman who was getting out of the nearby building and happened to walk right into this.

"Oh shit!" the woman yelled. The man, however, had other ideas. He grabbed the poor woman and put her in a stranglehold.

"Fuck off, you pig! Or else I blow this lady's head off!" the suspect said.

But Nick wasn't about to back down. He drew one of his Desert Eagles, with the other one in his right hand. The man tried to squirm a bit, causing the woman to move her body a bit and then pressed the barrel right against her head.

However, Marcus had crossed the street and stood behind a tree. He had the suspect and his hostage in his sights. He drew his .45 and took a close look to aim better. The suspect's legs were moving backwards, dragging his hostage with him.

 _Steady, ready, fire!_ Marcus pulled the trigger and the bullet pierced right into the man's right quad. The man howled in agonizing pain and quickly released the woman but not without firing a more rounds into the air. The woman quickly made a break from the suspect as Nick ran towards them.

"Lady, are you alright?" Nick said.

"Thank you so much," the woman said and then ran to get out of there.

Nick slowly walked towards the man. Marcus had his weapon pointed right at the downed suspect.

But this man didn't want to cooperate, as he grabbed his pistol and pointed his gun towards Nick, but then felt an impact against his right hand as Marcus stormed right in and kicked the pistol right of his hand. Nick swooped in as he saw the gun right close to the man's left hand and then stepped right on his left hand to the sounds of another scream.

"How does that feel?" Nick said.

"Fuck you, pig!" the criminal said.

"Yeah, yeah, that's music to my ears," Nick said. "I hear you got some Pop on you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the criminal said.

Marcus helped him get to his feet and then searched the man's vest and pockets and found a stash of that drug.

"Weeeellll," Marcus said as he flashed the bag of drugs right to his face. "Then explain how this got into your pockets."

The criminal sighed, as squad cars pulled up and many uniformed cops had their pistols pointed right him.

From a distance, a black car had pulled over and saw that the cops were now taking the guy in.

"Looks like the pigs had got him," said one of the men. They appeared to be Russian gangsters. "What should we do?"

"Don't worry, Sergei may have been stupid to shoot at cops, but he's not stupid to tell him what we're doing," the other man said. "Besides, the boss knows what to do if he rats us out."

The car then took off and made a U-turn to get out of there. Marcus looked up and looked at the car taking off. It had parked there not long ago, but now took off. To him, it didn't seem like someone picked the wrong street to turn on.

But at that point, the two detectives had found some evidence. It was now time to bring it to the precinct.

* * *

 **25 minutes later.**

Nick and Marcus got back to the precinct. Chief Parks and Rosie approached them.

"Hey, Nick, Marcus, did you find any leads?" Chief said.

"Well, we busted some crook who had some drugs on him," Nick said. "But other than that, we got a tip on something."

"What kind of tip?" Rosie said.

Marcus added. "Someone told us about some street-racing that goes on around the city, that maybe a dealer in that drug takes part in that stuff. I got a tip that some girl's boyfriend has gotten her caught up in some shit. It seems that he has been dealing and racing."

"Street-racing?" Chief said. "You know, this could also be broken up, but with someone who could get us closer to the supplier, this could be something big."

"There's one catch, though," Nick said. "We were told that a stripper named Gypsy takes part in those races. One of us has to go in and find her so we can get some info." He noticed Rosie standing there. "Hey, maybe Rosie can go undercover there and find some stuff for us."

"Ohhhh nooo," Rosie quickly replied. "I'm not going undercover as a stripper. I can't do all of that, but if I have to, I could try going undercover as a waitress."

"Oh come on, Rosie," Nick said. "You said you want to get back on the streets. This could be your ticket."

"Hold up," Marcus said. "I know a way. Maybe one of us can go over there and try to convince the racer girl to get in."

"Not a bad idea," Chief said. "You know, your lieutenant sent me your file and she even told me that you had broken up a street-racing circuit in NYC."

"Wait, Dixon said that?" Marcus said. "Well, she is right about that."

"I think I have an idea for you two," Chief said. "Or you three. Nick and Marcus, you two can go to the strip club and ask for that one girl. Rosie can try applying as a waitress to get some info."

Rosie interrupted. "What about the drugs?"

Chief Parks said. "Well, that one guy who Nick and Marcus busted isn't talking, but I did find something on him. It said his name is Sergei Levko. He had been taken in for drug and arms dealing, but he is not talking about who he is working for."

"I found something suspicious earlier," Marcus said. "Two guys were in a car. After we got into it with that guy, these guys were watching us and then just took off. Maybe he might know those two guys."

"Well, we're not done with this guy just yet," Nick said. "I think I can get him to talk. I have another guy who is working with us right now. I think I'll give him a call."

Marcus added. "I don't know. This guy may have dealt in some stuff, but he doesn't seem like he is up the food chain. He may know more, but not that much more."

Rosie added, "You sure about that?"

"Those guys, while they weren't stupid to get into it with us," Marcus said. "They might bail him out soon for all we know, but sometimes gangs don't live by the loyalty and family code. Some of them live by the code of "failure is not an option" and for all we know, they might get him and take care of him."

He had a good point in that statement. Rosie looked at him with a slight look of suspicion. Not so much that she though that he was in with them, but rather that he knew the code of the streets. Rosie had run with Mexican gangs in her day before turning a new leaf. So maybe there was a sign that Marcus's knowledge was based on something else besides research.

Meanwhile, Nick had made a call.

"Hey, Ray, this is Detective Kang," Nick said. "I need to ask you something. Can you tell me the description of your dealer? I think we got someone you may know in the hot seat."

* * *

 **Author's note: Okay, I'm going to stop it right here. I have plans for the next chapter. Gypsy was the name of a stripper in Streets of LA who appeared in a mission for the "Poor Ending" path. Francis was the guy from the tire/auto shop that Nick busted, but he is not going to play that big of a role. He might appear again, but that's about it.**

 **As for the character of Jojo, he is a composite character of Jojo from the first Bad Boys film and Stucky from the first Rush Hour film. They were both reluctant informants who were trying to go straight.**

 **I also had to do research for actual streets and locations being the game had done a good amount of the LA map, just like how New York City had done the map of Manhattan.**


	7. A Little Detour

**A Little Detour**

* * *

Hours had passed since Nick and Marcus had busted a potential pusher of Pop. Night had fallen, but the day was not over yet.

For the special guest partner, it had not been a full day since he had gotten to Los Angeles. But what was different was that this wasn't a day of babysitting and sightseeing for him. He was there to do his job, even though the person he was after hadn't been seen yet.

But only time was going to tell when their paths would cross, and it was not a matter of _if_ they will cross, but _when_ they will cross. For all he knew, he may be connected.

At that moment, it was time to get close to the action. During that time, Nick had approached the chief to tell her an idea he had. Being that Marcus wanted to go to the strip club to gain intel on that stripper, as well as Rosie going undercover as an applicant, whether it's as a dancer or a waitress. Nick wanted to check out a particular restaurant in Chinatown. He had an idea which restaurant it could be, so he was up for going on his own for this.

Plus, being that Rosie wanted in on this case as well as getting back in action, this was her chance.

Nick took the yellow car to the Chinese bistro. Marcus was left with Rosie, who drove him to her apartment so that she could change into some clothes to blend in with the surroundings. The only thing he did was change from his black leather jacket with the red symbol on the back to a red jacket with a Chinese symbol on the back, as well as changed his shirt that he wore underneath. He felt the need to wear something different.

Marcus waited in the living room for Rosie to get dressed. It was crazy that he was doing this as he barely had any contact with her the whole day.

"Nice place you got here," he said.

"Just make yourself at home," she said. "I won't be long."

In that moment, Marcus got out his Motorola cellphone and made a call to someone.

"Hello?" a male voice said.

"Hey, Pop. It's Marcus, you find anything?"

"Nah, son, not yet. Some of my men had gone out of our turf to take a look at what B.G.'s crew had been up to. Those guys usually rule Harlem and also have some influence out in the Bronx. None of them are going to try going out to Queens or Brooklyn to see what's up."

"Shit, I ain't asking for them search all over NYC to see if any of them are around. I just want to know what they plotting." Marcus said. "My new partner and I got into some shit earlier. I also found out that a girl I had dealt with in the past is now here and got into some shit out here, too."

"A girl? What girl?" Isaiah said.

"Some girl who was connected to the Shadow Tong," Marcus said. "The sister of the leader."

"Man, those guys ain't nothing now," Isaiah said. "Last I heard, you busted those guys, along with some other gangs."

"That's not the point," Marcus said. "Anyway, please just continue to find out what's been up. For all we know, some of Bobby's guys will gunning for your guys out in the streets. Just tell your men to watch their backs."

"You know I'll do that, son," Isaiah said. "I know you and Bobby have a lot of history of bad blood, but if there's one thing that Bobby will never be is his dad. I know Omar and I had our differences, but he was a real leader. Bobby is just a psycho who thinks fear is power. I'll be in touch soon. Hang in there."

"I will, later, pops," Marcus then hung up.

Right after Marcus was done talking to his father, Rosie had come out in a miniskirt and a blouse. She had gotten done getting ready to join Marcus on this case. She looked like she was ready to go clubbing, except this wasn't a dance club. It was a strip club, but she may have a way to let the owner know what is up.

Rosie drove again and the two rode in dead silence.

"So…," Rosie tried to break the silence. "I was wondering something about what you said earlier."

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Marcus said.

"You said something about the code of the streets," Rosie said. "You said something about how not all gangs have the whole loyalty and family code anymore and how some will punish their own gang members for failing something. I mean I know how it can work sometimes, especially when someone may turn on other members, but then you have the ones who will turn their backs on you if they feel you're going soft."

"Wow, you seem to know your shit," Marcus said. "I used to say that 'motherfuckers with no loyalty don't deserve to live.' Well, even the most loyal people out there end up getting smoked."

"Well, let me tell you one thing," Rosie said. "I wasn't always a cop."

"Really?" Just then, Marcus realized that this woman may not be so different than him.

"I used to run with some gangs in my youth," Rosie said. "I had not always lived a good life, but at some point, the life just wasn't cutting it for me, so I went a different route. That's how I became a cop. I went to the academy, became a beat cop, and after becoming a detective, I was recruited to work for the EOD and here I am."

A slight smile grew on Marcus's face when he heard that. It turned out that this woman was no different than him.

"So tell me a little about yourself," Rosie said.

"You want to know, huh?" Marcus said. "Well, I wasn't always a cop either. In fact, I used to run with my dad's gang when I was younger."

"Your dad? Your dad ran a gang?" Rosie said.

"He _runs_ a gang." Marcus corrected her. "He's still alive. He's just locked up."

"Oh," Rosie said. "My mistake."

"Yeah, well, it gets more complicated than that," Marcus said. "But what I will say is that thanks to my dad's closest friend, a detective, at that, he took me under his wing and I turned over a new leaf. Here I am."

It was crazy that he told her all of this. Marcus had only met Rosie that morning and the day hadn't ended yet. He wasn't sure if he should trust her with this information. But having been told about her past, she volunteered that information, so it was only fair that he would do the same thing.

"Just wondering," Rosie said. "But did you ever have any former friends or fellow gang members go after you?"

"No. With my dad running shit, he got all of his guys to back off. Even though we were on different sides of the law, I was still his son and he didn't want to cause any trouble. Shit, it was even crazy to think that his best friend was a cop."

He didn't share that his mentor was crooked. He didn't want to go deeper at that point.

"So tell me, how did _you_ become a cop?"

Rosie replied. "It wasn't easy. I was only in the gang life as a youth, but when I saw that the crime life wasn't worth it, I decided to become a cop. Many of my ex-friends weren't happy. I even busted a few and some even tried to gun for me."

"You know, I've heard about the gang life in LA," Marcus said. "At least when dealing with Mexican gangs, they don't take kindly to anybody leaving the life. Especially when you know that some prison gangs hold a lot of weight on the streets."

"Well, lucky for me, things don't work out that way out here, at least not with women," she said. "I wasn't that deep into the gang life. Some women will run with gangs, but they aren't always full-on members. Plus, I was mostly in an all-girl gang, but we had our connections with some even more hardcore gangs. We didn't get into too many heavy things, but we got close. At some point, I got busted as a teen and then I paid the price and I decided to enforce the law rather than break it. I may have dealt with some former friends wanting me dead and stuff, but never have I experienced some shot-callers putting a hit out on me or anything like that."

It took quite a bit for them to get to Hollywood where The Body Fantastique was. But it wasn't bad as Marcus saw that Rosie had lived the crime life before. However, she didn't need to know about anything else. Those two had only just met, but for Marcus, he had gone even deeper into the gang life, especially when years prior, he had gone after a fellow gang member who had double-crossed him and his father and was nearly killed in the process.

But he left that life behind him, even though his father would ask him to do favors for him, which made Marcus question his standing with the law at times.

They finally arrived to the strip club on Hollywood Boulevard. They got out of Rosie's car and headed for the door. They paid their way to get in. Rosie was about to go in and try to talk turkey with the owner of the place, while Marcus was about to get a lap dance from a specific stripper.

Music was blaring over the speakers, with "Nasty Girl" from Kasino and Nite & Day playing and some girls dancing on stage and in cages. This establishment had strippers dancing on small stages on the sides, as well as the cages, and of course, the main stage in the center. There were also flashing colored lights on the floor. There was a lot of room in this establishment.

Marcus whispered into Rosie's ear, "You go find the owner and handle him. I need to go find Gypsy."

Rosie nodded her head and they split up. Marcus went around and saw various people in the gentleman's club. It was only during the week, but it seemed like a happening place in spite of it.

Marcus went to the bar and turned his attention to one of the bartenders.

"Hey, do you know where I can find Gypsy?"

The bartender looked at him and looked ahead and pointed her out to him. She was dancing on dancing on stage. She had a tan and her hair looked like it was dyed bright red. She looked like she was Hispanic, maybe Mexican and she had tattoos on both of her arms and on her stomach, particularly around her belly button. She was wearing a red bikini on stage and also cowboy boots.

 _That's the racer girl?_ He thought, but then again, the former champion of the racing circuit in NYC had a similar look and was also the person who ran the circuit. She had to be quite a driver if she took part in a heist that Nick busted.

Meanwhile, Rosie asked the other bartender if she could find Pete, the owner of the strip club.

"Why do you need to see him?" the bartender asked.

"I want to get a job here and I want to talk to him," she said. She then turned around and saw an overweight guy with a beard and looked like he was balding and yelling at a bouncer.

"He's right there if you need to talk to him," the bartender said.

Rosie saw that this guy looked like he was having a bad night. Maybe she could use this to her advantage. But what was her endgame? Marcus was there to get information, but something about this guy rubbed her the wrong way.

It was initially supposed to be Nick who took Marcus, but he had plans of his own. Rosie wanted in on the case and had another idea for undercover work, except she may need to find someone to work with her on this case.

Rosie took off to the restroom and unbuttoned a few buttons from her shirt, as well as unbuttoned the bottom and tied the shirt to look sexy for this guy. She didn't find this guy appealing, but being around a bunch of naked women, as well as waitresses who only wore slightly more, there had to be a way to appeal to him.

Marcus sat around until he saw Gypsy get off the stage, but she wasn't headed towards the back. She got off the stage as it appeared like she was ready to dance some more. Marcus got up and walked up to her. She looked up right at him.

"Hey there, handsome, you want a lap-dance?" she said in a seductive tone.

"Hell yeah, but you think maybe we can get the private rooms?"

"That will cost more, but I think I can give you a little discount," Gypsy said. "Follow me, sugar."

Marcus followed the stripper, as he had an ulterior motive in all of this. It was going to be a slow burn for him to get close to the supplier, but he had to find a way.

Gypsy led the way to the VIP room. The curtains closed and Marcus paid the girl and the music started, which was "I Wanna Rock" from Luke.

Marcus said there and watched as she gyrated her body all over him. He smiled but looked away a few times.

"What's wrong, honey?" Gypsy said. "Aren't you having fun?"

Knowing the rules of a place like that, Marcus put his hands behind his back and Gypsy straddled her legs on both of his sides as she moved her body backwards.

"You certainly move pretty fast, don't you?" Marcus said.

"Oh, honey, you don't know what fast is," Gypsy said. "By the way, is that a gun in your pants?"

Marcus replied, "No, I'm just happy to see you. What's your name?"

"They call me Gypsy."

"I can see why. You certainly know how to move fast and got a quick way with your magic."

"What is your name, handsome?"

Marcus replied. "Jimmy Mac."

"Well, you said that I'm fast, wait until you see what I can do out of here," Gypsy said.

"Hold up, I'm not trying to…"

"What? No, I don't mean that. I got other ways of being fast, like on the road."

"Oh, are you a racer?" Marcus said.

"As a matter of fact I am," Gypsy said seductively.

"Well, in that case, I was wondering how I can get in," Marcus said.

"Oh, you want to race?" Gypsy said. "Well, give me your number and I can let you know how to get in. I got a race this Friday and I would like to show you around. You think you can drive?"

Marcus had gotten through to her. He got out a piece of paper and wrote it down while she danced topless in front of him. The dance was almost over and she picked up her top and put it on. Marcus handed her the piece of paper, while she ripped the paper in half and got the pen and wrote down her number.

"This is in case if, you know, you want some _other_ action," Gypsy said and raised her eyebrows twice. "Handsome."

She was done and walked away but turned her attention towards Marcus again and smiled and winked at him. He was not about to fall for it because while he was aware that some strippers may go home with some patrons, she could have been flirting in that sense or may possibly be luring him into a trap. It was also known that strippers have to be flirty towards patrons, so he was being a professional in that situation.

* * *

 **MEANWHILE…**

Rosie followed Pete to his office.

"After you," he said. Rosie walked in and was met with a slap to her rear end. It didn't take long for her to figure out what kind of guy he was.

Once they went inside, she noticed that his office was rather messy, with clutter all over his desk, as well as what looked like a bag of cocaine on it. She had him all figured out. First the slap to her behind and a bag of cocaine on the desk, then noticed what looked like a couple of bags with different narcotics.

One bag contained what appeared to be Ecstasy. The other was full of the same drugs that Marcus and Nick were after. The bag of coke made her believe that he was a coked-out scumbag, but the other drugs? It was clear he didn't have them to use.

Then it hit her. She came with another plan.

"So, missy, I hear you want to be a waitress," Pete said. "But I look at you and I think you got a body to flaunt on stage. Can you dance?"

"Call me Raquel," Rosie said. "And I'm not really here to apply for a job as a waitress or a dancer. I heard that you deal Pop. I was wondering if I can get in on the action."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You see, I want to buy some of your supply that I see right there," she said. "You and I can work together."

"Lady, you don't see nothing, okay?" He then got his bag of coke and took some of out and snorted it right from his finger. So the part about him being coked-out wasn't a stretch after all.

"I am a businesswoman and I was told by a Sergei Levko about this drug. I can try getting this stuff not just on the streets around here, but maybe we can do a lot of business out in Vegas, Miami, you name it. All you got to tell is who the supplier is."

"Can't do that, lady." But then he came up with another idea, as he grew a creepy smile on his face. "Unless you do something for me." And then reached for the waistband of his pants and started undoing his belt.

Rosie didn't even have to guess where he was coming from. This guy was disgusting. She didn't mean that he was unattractive, but with him working at a strip club and slapping her butt, as well as high on cocaine, she knew what kind of man he was.

"No, I don't do that," Rosie said. "I'm leaving. If you don't want to give me the name of your supplier, then I am out of here."

"Okay, wait," Pete said. "That guy Sergei you mentioned, he told me about this drug and I had some people try this stuff out. He tends to work for some big Russian gangster. I don't know his name, but he is working on reopening the Gulag."

 _Wait, the Gulag?_ She thought. She remembered that some Russian gangsters that Nick went after a few years prior ran that establishment.

"Well, maybe I can talk with them," she said. "I don't have cards on me, but I could write down my phone number so that you can tell some of the dealers about this." She then wrote down her number on a piece of paper. "Then we can do business."

What was surprising to her about all of this was that he didn't force himself onto her. Was he that high on the white powder that he didn't go through with it? Or was he scared of the Russians? No one knew.

Rosie then left the owner's office. She winged that whole conversation that entire time. Now she just needed to find someone to work with her in this undercover assignment.

At that point, Marcus left the VIP area of the strip club and met up with Marcus.

"Hey, so what do you got?" Marcus said.

"I'll explain to you in a bit, we got to get going," Rosie said. "What about you?"

"I'll tell you in the car. Let's bounce."

But then the music went to a halt, as the announcer made an announcement.

"Okay, everybody, we got a new girl making her debut at the Body Fantastique! Everybody, put your hands together for the sultry Jade Diamond!"

It would make sense for the two detectives to leave, but they turned around and saw someone come out from behind the curtains to get on the stage. She wore a white blouse that was tied in a knot halfway, exposing her cleavage and midriff, as well as a miniskirt. Just then, "Beep" from Pussycat Dolls and will-i-am started blaring on the speakers, as the girl gyrated and took off her skirt and then undid her shirt. She turned around and she appeared to be Asian, particularly of Chinese descent. She had a tattoo on her stomach, but it was lower than her navel, unlike Gypsy and was close to the thong that she was wearing.

Marcus took a closer look. _Vivian?!_ It was the first thing that came to mind.

But he was not about to blow his cover, neither was Rosie. So they bolted out of the strip club right then. Marcus walked fast and looked to the ground and breathed a few times as Rosie followed him.

"Marcus, what's wrong?" Rosie said but to no answer.

From a distance, a couple of black guys were standing around near the exterior of the strip club where the posters of the naked woman silhouettes were. One of them took a closer look at the two cops leaving.

The moment they got into her car, the first thing that came out of his mouth was "I know that girl on stage."

Rosie said, "Wait, what? Are you talking about the girl who just started dancing just now?"

"Yeah, her."

"This sounds like maybe you're shocked about this."

"You don't get it," Marcus said. "When Kang and I were talking to some people earlier, one of the informants told me that she had something to do with the races, as that stripper I talked to told me about it and that the girl's boyfriend takes part in them, as well as deals Pop. I didn't think that she would start stripping."

"How do you know her?"

Marcus then turned towards Rosie and took a deep breath.

From the outside, the same two guys from before walked slowly towards Rosie's car and looked towards the passenger seat.

"Hey, is that…?" one of the guys said.

"I don't know," the other guy said. "I don't think so."

"You think we should tell Bobby about this?"

"Nah, I don't think it's him. Don't worry about it. Why would he be here? Besides, he told some of our guys out in New York to go smoke him and his pops, as well as any of the other members of the King's Posse. That fool ain't got nowhere else to go. Come on, let's go."

Back in the car, Rosie was speechless as to what she had just heard. It was clear that Marcus knew the girl, but to what extent did he know her.

"I thought she would keep herself out of trouble, but with the life she lived, especially with her pops running the Tong, as well as her asshole stepbrother running it, it always comes back to find her."

"Marcus, I know I don't know you, but I wouldn't get too bent out of shape about this. For all we know, she may be stripping because of money. Besides, I don't think she is getting pimped out or anything like that."

"Yeah, but something must be an issue, but we just need to find out what it is."

Rosie started the car and they took off.

* * *

 **CHINATOWN**

Nick took off that same evening to check out a particular restaurant. He called his brother Cary earlier for him to get the address. He was told that it was located on Broadway Street and Bernard Street. Why did that address seem familiar to him?

He pulled up in his sports car and he looked up.

 _She works at THIS place?_ The place was indeed familiar to him. It is run by the Triads. Not that he believed that she would get caught up with them. _Hope she never went into the back area of the place._

Unlike that one time he went by there, it looked like there were people dining there that night. He went up to the door and went inside. He walked up to the hostess.

"Hello, may I help you?" the hostess said in a Chinese accent.

"Yes, I am here to see if Vivian Shen is working tonight," Nick said.

"Excuse me, sir?" the hostess said in a confused tone. "Vivian?"

"Yes, I have an important date with her and I wanted to surprise her at her job," Nick said as he tried to walk through.

"Sir, this restaurant is reservations only," the hostess said and then got a gun from behind the desk, but kept it out of sight from anybody who was nearby. It was true that this restaurant was run by the Triads.

"Besides, Vivian no longer works here. She quit last week."

Several staff members came out and looked at Nick a certain way. They were familiar with him, but they weren't about to ruin any patrons' night like this, so they signaled to him that he leave.

Nick walked out the door and a voice was heard that said "NICK! NICK KANG!"

"Huh?" Nick was shocked at what he heard.

"What you find cannot be found here. You must try elsewhere." The voice said.

 _Hey, I know that voice._ Nick thought. "Wu, is that you?"

"You must go, Nicholas. Farewell." The voice said.

Nick wasn't sure if it was just a voice within or if the presence of a man he had encountered before was talking to him. In either case, nothing was to be found there.

But then, RING! RING! Nick immediately picked up the phone.

"Rosie, what's going on? I couldn't find the girl."

"Something you should know, Nick. Reed and I checked out the strip club. It appears that the girl is now working at the strip club. I also need to tell you and the chief something tomorrow. I also found out the Gulag will be reopening again."

"The Gulag? I thought that place shut down after I took down the Russkies' counterfeiting operation."

Rosie replied. "Well, it seems that the drug we're after will help business. The owner of the Body Fantastique seems to be dealing in some of that stuff. We might be closer than we think."

"Well, we'll talk more about in the morning," Nick said.

"Talk to you then," Rosie said.

* * *

 **Author's note: Okay, that's the end of this chapter. The events of this, along with the past few chapters took place within the same day. At least our heroes will be getting somewhere.**

 **I must note that initially for the sequence with Rosie, I thought about doing something that was reminiscent of Heavy Rain when Madison went to the club, but I changed my mind. In my mind, the owner was like that guy Paco from Heavy Rain. He was supposed to be a coked-out sleaze that was also a bit of a pervert.**

 **Plus, I wanted to have her play a big role in the story. Nick and Marcus are co-protagonists, but Rosie has more of a secondary character status, like being a deuteragonist.**

 **Vivian will appear again soon and will have a reunion with Marcus. Just wait and see.**

 **The two guys who spotted Marcus and Rosie are connected to one of the main villains. Bobby will appear eventually.**

 **The voice that Nick heard was that of Ancient Wu. For those wondering, Ancient Wu was a major character in Streets of LA who gave Nick the answers he needed. Will he actually appear? He might, but I am not sure about putting in sequences involving fighting zombies, demons, or dragons. I don't think this story needs to go there.**

 **Until next time, peace out.**

 **"Nasty Girl" performed by Kasino feat. Nite & Day. Copyright 1998 Def Jam Recordings.**

 **"I Wanna Rock (Doo Doo Brown)" performed by Luke. Copyright 1991 Luke Records.**

 **"Beep" performed by The Pussycat Dolls feat. will-i-am. Copyright 2005 A &M Records.**


	8. More than Meets the Eye

**More than Meets the Eye**

* * *

It was now the following day. After gathering more information the previous night, especially some new information that no one expected to gather, this case was only the beginning.

But when Marcus saw that familiar face stripping, he wondered if she was doing that for extra money or if she was doing that because she had no other choice. Besides, Nick was only _told_ that she quit, but somehow, he suspected that maybe she probably was still under their employ, and that the Triads were only trying to get rid of him.

Whatever the case was, things were only going to escalate.

Marcus and Nick had gotten to the EOD headquarters, as did Rosie. They immediately regrouped from the previous day, as they went towards Chief Wanda Parks.

"Good morning, what did all of you find out?" Parks said.

The first person who answered the chief's question was Rosie.

"Last night, Reed and I went to check out the strip club out in Hollywood. I found out that the owner is dealing. So I winged my interview as someone who wants in on the action. While I was winging it, I mentioned the suspect's name that Nick and Marcus here busted yesterday. He seems to know the guy." She turned her attention towards the guys. "But that guy doesn't seem like he is the main dealer."

"No, he doesn't," Nick said. "But he has to know something."

Chief Parks then interrupted. "Too late for that, he got bailed yesterday. But something tells me that this guy wasn't the dealer or anything like that."

"Or maybe not the main dealer, not like someone who you would see on the corner just pushing narcotics like some lowly thug trying to make an honest buck," Marcus said. "This guy was packing and was ready for us when Kang and I went right for him."

Nick turned towards Marcus. "Hey, I could have gotten him, you know?"

Marcus added, "That guy looked like he was about to kill that poor girl. I had to do something. Anyway, this guy could be a dealer, but I saw some other guys. I wondered what their deal was."

Parks added some of her input. "Well, it didn't take long for someone to post bail for him, because when you guys brought him in yesterday, someone came and bailed him out hours later."

"He don't got to worry, because that guy won't be able to run after him, not after I shot him in the leg," Marcus said. "Even then, we still have no leads to the main supplier. Those guys just vanished and then he just got bailed out."

"Hold up, you guys," Rosie said. "I think I could try getting that sleazy strip club owner to get us closer. I think I should work with some others to see if we can try getting closer. For some reason, he trusts me, probably because he was attracted to me. I think I can handle him."

"Well, Rosie," Chief Parks said. "I want to hear more of your plan. Follow me to my office."

Chief Parks and Rosie walk away, while Nick and Marcus stay back.

"Hey, while you two go talk, maybe the new kid and I can go search for some stuff ourselves," Nick said.

Marcus looked at Nick. "Do you even have a plan?"

"Follow me and you shall see," Nick said. At that moment, he started walking away as Marcus looked on and then started following him. Then out of the blue, a cellphone started ringing. Marcus reached for his pocket as he saw on the little screen of his flip-phone, it said "Deena Dixon."

"I got to take this," Marcus said and then walked somewhere else.

Nick looked at the NY detective with some slight derision. _I don't need you on this. I can handle this on my own._

Marcus stepped outside and answered. "Hello, Dixon. What's going on?"

"Marcus, how's it going down there?"

"Eh, you know, sunshine and palm trees, a lot different than The Big Apple. Nah, I'm kidding, there's as much scum out here as there is in New York. Hey, I want to know, have you and Whitting checked on anything?"

"It's only been a day since you've gone down there, but we're trying to find out who it was, Marcus," Dixon said. "Usually anybody who tries an attempt on someone's life, they're likely to get out of dodge ASAP."

"Yeah, well, I found something even more interesting. Remember when I was working with Whitting on finding out the mole in the OCU? It appears that the drug Pop has found its way out here."

"Wait, what? How is that even possible? I thought Whitting and the rest of the feds, as well as you and some of the narcotics division managed to take the drugs."

"Something or someone must have let it go loose," Marcus said. "I don't know what is going on, but after busting Lionel Jones, his entire empire went down. The Presidents Club, Zen Empire Records. I don't think anybody is running his old label at this point."

Dixon said, "You don't think he had anything to do with the contract on you, do you?"

"That guy was loaded, but I don't think he has a lot of power on the inside to make orders to some other criminals about taking down a cop. Even then, I am sure that the leaders of the other gangs that me and the feds took down will want me dead, too. But I wonder about the drugs. Who on earth would unleash a drug like that to the world? That shit will fuck you up in a minute. Wasn't it about $100 million worth of that drug that we took away? What's funny is that I am surprised that the guys out here aren't dealing any of the shit that the Latin Lords or the Magdalena Cartel were dealing, but that's not to say that they aren't."

"I don't know, but I think Whitting and I will go and have a nice chat with Lionel Jones about this. This has to be something big. We will also keep you posted about the people who want you dead. It's not safe out here for you, but you will have to come home eventually."

"I know, but please keep me posted, okay? Talk you soon, bye."

After Marcus got off the phone, he went back inside and approached Nick.

"Okay, detective, you said you got a plan? What do you got?"

Nick replied. "A few days ago, I busted some guys trying to rob a bank. But one of those guys may know a thing or two. I'll take you there, come on."

* * *

It took some time to get to where they needed to get to. They took a drive out to El Monte. Being that the Elite Operations Division has jurisdiction in the entire county of Los Angeles, Nick still had authority in various parts of the county. This was no exception.

The two detectives found a particular house on Ferris Road. Nick parked his car in front of that house.

"What are we doing here?" Marcus said.

"We just need to talk to someone," Nick said. "I have a hunch that he may know more than what meets the eye."

"I hope you're right. We're stuck with nothing right now, except Rosie's got something and I think I got a lead, but I feel that there is more to it."

Nick and Marcus approached the door to the house. It seemed like a nice enough house, at least for a few people to live in. But whose house was it? What would the person know?

Nick knocked on the door. "Ray, are you home? It's Detective Kang. I need to ask you something."

He rang the doorbell, but then Marcus noticed something a little irregular.

"Hey, knock on that door again."

Nick knocked on it and then a squeaking sound went off as the door started to crack open.

"That's odd. Who leaves the door unlocked like that?"

"And who doesn't close it all the way?" Marcus replied. "Something fishy here, I'll tell you that."

Nick then called for Ray's attention once again. The house looked messy. Some lights were still on. Some people may leave lights on if they were to take off to make it seem like someone was home.

Marcus closed the door behind him. No one was home. Nick looked around and noticed pictures of the same guys who took part in the failed heist. It appeared that they all lived together.

"Man, it seems pretty lonely for Ray to live like this," Nick said.

Marcus then looked over and saw a piece of paper on the coffee table and picked it up and looked at it.

"Hey, partner, I think I found something."

Nick walked towards Marcus who held the piece of paper. It appeared to be a note.

"Dear, Tina, I had to take off for a bit. I can't live like this right now. I'm going to clean myself up, but I need to also be away. If you read this, I'm already gone. I promise I will call…"

Nick looked up and thought to himself. _Tina?_

He then picked up what appeared to be a framed picture that was knocked face down on the coffee table. The picture looked like Ray and a woman who appeared to be familiar to him.

"Oh, I see now," Nick said.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Seems like something is up. I will tell you the rest later, but I stopped a bank heist a few days ago. Something is definitely up."

"What?"

Just then, the doorbell rang. "I'll explain later."

The two detectives slowly approached the door. Nick peeped a bit through the peephole, while Marcus slowly pulled up some blinds to peek through the window right next to the door. Nick kept a bit of a distance from the peephole and already saw that it was dark.

"Oh shit!" Nick yelled and the moment he got out of the way, a blast went right through the peephole as small wood chips had flown right from that part of the door. Marcus dove right in front of a couch, while Nick stood right by the door with his back against the wall. Right at that moment, the door opened and a guy in black and sunglasses opened the door.

"What the…?" said the man as he opened it some more. He looked at the floor as he noticed that there was nobody there. He walked forward more and noticed that the room was getting darker and was met with something metal touching the left side of his head.

"Freeze, asshole," Nick said. He closed the door behind them and pointed his Desert Eagle to the man's head.

Marcus stood up and drew his .45 right to him.

"You're surrounded," Marcus said.

The man had no choice but to drop his weapon and raise his arms in the air. But in that moment, Marcus heard some light taps in the same house. He looked towards the right and saw another guy hide behind a wall. He signaled to Nick that he knock the other guy out while he goes to check it out.

Nick pistol-whipped the first hitman, while Marcus quickly moved forward and put his back against the wall. The man appeared to be in the kitchen. He heard a weapon cock, but it didn't sound like it could be a handgun. No, it sounded much different. Having heard that, Marcus went behind another wall, as the gunman popped out with a Mossberg 500. Nick looked up and quickly dove out of sight as a shell went right for him, leaving a few holes on the door.

Marcus quickly reacted and tackled the shotgun-wielding gunman and drove the man's head right to the floor, but was then met with an elbow to the gut. The hitman then got up and kicked Marcus in the face. He picked up a knife that he had.

The hitman whom Nick had knocked out had gotten up and yelled towards the guy in Russian. ["You handle that guy. This one is mine."]

The other one nodded. ["I'll take care of him."]

He then looked down and noticed that Marcus was nowhere to be found. But it didn't matter to him. He picked up his Mossberg and figured where he could have gone.

He looked through a hallway where there were a bunch of closed doors. The gunman opened one door and went inside. Nothing there. He then fired a shell into the other closed door. He opened the door. Nothing there, either. There was one final room to look through, which was the master bedroom.

However, a particular door was open, which was to one of the bathrooms of the house. A curtain opened, as Marcus stepped out of the shower/bathtub. The gunman continued to search the bedroom and then saw the bathroom, with a closed shower curtain. The man unloaded his shotgun, but realized that no one was there.

"Nice try," a voice said behind the gunman. It was Marcus with his pistol drawn. "But you got a lot to learn."

The gunman dropped the shotgun, but quickly drew his knife and swung the blade right towards Marcus's neck, but barely missed and tried to stake a stab at the cop's chest, but Marcus jumped back at the right time.

Marcus found a glass right on a dresser and clocked him over the head with it and smashed on impact from the attack. The man fell down and Marcus got out his handcuffs to try to cuff him, but he wasn't out. This wasn't like in the movies where getting knocked out means you're out. He quickly regained consciousness and grabbed Marcus by his feet to trip him.

The gunman got to his feet and picked up the shotgun once again and aimed the barrel right towards the downed detective.

Marcus lied there and right beside him was his .45.

"Say good night, pig," the gunman said.

Marcus quickly fired a round into the man's gut. "Good night."

The gunman fell right to his knee as blood dripped from his stomach and blood started to run from his mouth. Marcus took a deep breath after all of that. It didn't seem like he would make it from that. He then got out his phone to request backup. He started to walk away.

However, the man wasn't dead yet. He picked up a sidearm he had and was ready to open fire to the detective. Marcus turned around and fired three rounds into the man's chest and he fell down from the gunshots. The gunman did not get up or move from that.

Meanwhile, Nick and the other gunman from before got into a bit of scuffle. Gunfire went across the living room and into the kitchen. It wasn't long until clicking sounds went off in their guns.

The hitman said in a Russian accent. "You know, shooting you would be too easy. Let's fight like men."

"Oh, you want to do it like that, huh?" Nick said. "Bring it on."

The hitman threw a punch to Nick, who quickly dodged the attack. Nick delivered a high kick but was blocked and thrown to the ground. Nick rose up and tried to punch the man again, but was blocked and thrown to the ground. It was at that moment, the hitman picked up a knife and was ready to drive the blade right into the detective's chest, but Nick quickly rolled and rose up to deliver a jumping spin kick. It was hard enough to send the gunman walking backwards and breaking the front door in the process, as it had the shot from the shotgun from before.

Nick was ready to detain him right then and there. But the hitman was not ready for that, as he got up and got the knife once again and tried to swing it to slash Nick once again. He got close enough to grab him and was ready to shank him.

But Nick had something up his sleeve, as the hitman felt a slight shock somewhere down there, as Nick had a taser in his hand. He started howling out an agonizing scream.

"Well," Nick said. "Looks like you won't be having kids anytime soon."

"Fuck you!" the Russian hitman said.

"Yeah, well, you won't be fucking anybody soon."

It wasn't long until a couple of squad cars came up. A black car was seen across the street. In there were two African-American men. The two detectives picked up the Russian gangster and had a few uniformed cops take him in.

"Hey, remember last night?" one of the two guys in the car said. "That IS that guy."

"The fuck is he doing out here?" said the other guy.

"I don't know, but I know he shot Mike in the leg. We gotta tell our boss this. He's gonna have a fit if he knows that the cop is here."

"We'll tell him, but we gotta handle our business first. I think the Russian boss promised us some new guns and some shit."

One of the gangsters got out a digital camera and shot pictures of the two detectives. They then started up the car and took off.

After the cops took the surviving hitman away, Nick informed one of the uniformed cops to follow him to Downtown LA, as he got a lead on something.

Nick and Marcus took off to Downtown from El Monte to the one place they needed to go. It was bank on S Hope St. The same bank that Nick had prevented the failed bank heist from before.

"So tell me, what was the deal with that note?" Marcus said.

"I got a hunch that says this bank robbery that I stopped wasn't some random shit," Nick said. "That girl mentioned in the letter? I think she was in on it."

Marcus said nothing after that, but this wasn't much of a shock.

Nick parked the car and without any words, the two detectives got out of the car as Nick walked quickly to get inside. He saw some security guards and quickly flashed his badge towards, as did Marcus. He went right for a blonde woman teller, who then looked up.

"Oh, Nick, Detective Kang, you're back so soon." It was none other than Tina.

"Cut the bullshit, Tina. You're coming with us." Nick said with a scowl on his face. Marcus didn't say a word, but Nick had filled him in on what was said. He didn't know the girl, but he had every right to have that look on his face.

"What's going on here?" a middle-aged man came up and said. He appeared to be the branch manager.

Marcus said, "This is police business. We're just taking her in for questioning."

Nick gave his Miranda rights and cuffed Tina as they put her in the back of a police car.

Nick and Marcus went back into Nick's yellow sports car. It was obvious that Tina had a lot of explaining to do.

* * *

 **NEW YORK CITY**

Dixon and Whitting, along with Victor Navarro, the lieutenant of the Organized Crime Unit of the PDNY, all took an impromptu trip to Rikers Island. It appeared that Lionel Jones was locked up in there, along with some other people whom the FBI had taken in after that major case from the previous year.

The two lieutenants, along with the veteran FBI agent, all got off the boat and headed towards the entrance.

"What makes you so sure that he might have something to do with that thug's attempted murder?" Victor said.

"Victor, shut up," Dixon said. "I know you don't trust Marcus, but he cleared your name after all the bullshit that happened with Terry. Besides, he singlehandedly got everyone of the crime syndicates locked up."

Whitting added. "Lionel Jones also distributed the drug called 'Pop' and somehow it found itself in LA. Reed is helping the EOD down there try to crack the case. We're just trying to pay 'President Benjamin' a visit."

"Benjamin? Benjamin Franklin? He was never president," Navarro said.

"That's the point," Whitting said. "But he was the leader of the Presidents Club and they pushed Pop out here. He must know something."

It wasn't long until the trio got to the visiting area. This wasn't a normal visit. They just needed to ask a few questions. But time was of the essence. The trio went up to the window. It wasn't long until a tall, muscular, and bald African-American man in an orange jumpsuit approached the window as he saw a blonde female police lieutenant, an older man with sunglasses, and an older Puerto Rican police lieutenant at the window. The man grabbed the phone that was to the side.

Dixon grabbed the phone and said, "Lionel Jones? We want to ask you some questions."

Lionel responded. "What do you want to know?"

* * *

 **Author's note: I wanted to leave this on cliffhanger of some sort. The discussion with Lionel Jones will continue in the next chapter, as will the interrogation of Tina Ferguson, the bank teller from Nick's introductory chapter. Didn't see that one coming, huh?**

 **I will put in the bit of Marcus infiltrating the race circuit in the next one or the one after, but I have some ideas for that part.**

 **Regarding the infiltration, I used some stuff as inspiration. I remembered an old "Walker, Texas Ranger" episode that had a fight scene that started in a house and went into the outside. I might even have to re-watch some episodes of the "Lethal Weapon" TV show to get a glimpse of some other scenes. It had been a while, at least when Riggs was still on the show.**

 **As noted in another chapter, I had to research real locations in LA. Being that the two games used real streets and locations (But not the exact locations as seen in the games), I had to search Google Maps for real streets, like in El Monte, Toluca Lake, Glendale, etc.**

 **I will do the next one soon.**


	9. Laying it all on the Table

**Laying it all on the Table**

 **Author's note: This chapter will be a series of interludes that will be told in different perspectives. I have done something like this in another story.**

* * *

 **RIKERS ISLAND, NEW YORK CITY.**

Dixon did the honors to discuss with Jones, also known as "Benjamin" in the Presidents Club, the Presidents' boss at that. He had gone to jail after Marcus had busted him and some of the other "presidents," well, any of the surviving lieutenants of the gang. They manufactured and distributed the drug known as Pop.

But the question was on the minds of everyone involved in the case.

"Mr. Jones," Dixon said. "I am Deena Dixon of the PDNY Street Crime Unit. This here is Agent Gabriel Whitting of the FBI and also this is Victor Navarro, lieutenant of the Organized Crime Unit. My lead detective is in Los Angeles as we speak taking on a case with one of L.A.'s finest involving this drug. What we want to know is if you have anything to do with the drug being down there."

Lionel responded. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Whitting took the phone from Dixon. "Mr. Jones, with all due respect, you and the rest of the Presidents Club had manufactured the drug out here. From what I understand, you worked with the Yakuza, but then you got into some problems with them. We busted you because you were working with a detective in the OCU. But with this drug having made it out west, we wondered if you have connections on the outside who are distributing it."

"Like I said before," Lionel said. "I don't know what you're talking about. Yes, I admit that I was involved in making and dealing that drug. That little nigga that got lucky that one night, the moment he busted me, my business went down, as did the rest of the club. All of you guys took every piece of Pop that was found at Zen Empire Records. I had to make sure my business was pro-tected, but that little nigga got lucky, like I said before."

The way he said "protected" had enunciated the prefix "pro."

Dixon then signaled to Whitting to hand her the phone. "Okay, we get that, but do you have any connections on the outside? Like maybe someone who you were probably going to do business with before you got arrested?"

"You got to understand one thing, lady." Lionel said in such a calm, yet sinister tone. "I didn't touch my own shit. Yes, I was involved and it was my business, but President Grant was the one who was handling all the distribution and business deals. But now that you mention it, he had said something about maybe doing business with some gang out in Harlem or The Bronx. They call themselves the Original Gangster Family. If I recall, their original leader was Omar Green, but after he was killed, his son, Bobby Green took over as leader. Grant and Jackson, along with Hamilton, they were talking about making a deal and an alliance with that gang. But it never came through."

Whitting, along with the two police captains were able to see that Lionel had no influence on the outside. Only so few have that kind of power, but he wasn't one of those people.

It was now time for Victor to get into this discussion as he took the phone. "I must know. What do you know about Bobby Green? I remember some people in my unit have had a hard time in dealing with his organization. From what I hear, he is a tough guy to catch, and a psycho as well. I almost lost a good detective once to one of those guys."

"I don't know much, just like I don't know much about the distribution of Pop. But I will tell you that maybe his crew might know a thing or two. After all, they wanted to ally with us, so maybe someone took what was left before all of you pigs took the majority. They might even have a guy who knows how to manufacture the drug."

Dixon, Victor, and Whitting all looked at each other with so much confusion on their faces. It appeared that Lionel had a valid point. While it was clear from this discussion that he had no involvement in the distribution of the drug, it appeared that maybe a few of his lieutenants might know something.

"You might want to talk to Grant. He is the only one who might know. Lincoln won't tell you shit, and Hamilton and Jackson are dead."

"We'll take your word for it, Mr. Jones," Whitting said. "Thanks for your time."

The trio got up and walked down the hallways and headed to the outside of the penitentiary.

Dixon said, "I don't get it. How on earth does someone take million dollars worth of drugs like that? Whitting, didn't you have some of your men take the bulk of what was left?"

"As far as we know, yeah," Whitting said. "But we kept the remains safe somewhere as evidence."

"Well, _someone_ had to have taken them," Dixon said.

Victor added, "If I recall, didn't Reed also take some of their drugs as evidence?"

"Yes, he did," Dixon said, but then something else hit her. "There's something that's giving me a weird hunch."

"What's that?" Victor said.

"If I recall, those guys who tried to kill Marcus, someone quickly posted bail for them. But I am not sure who they were affiliated with, but I'm guessing that they might be connected to the OGF. If I remember correctly, Marcus's father runs the King's Posse and they were bitter rivals. I wonder if they also have to do with the attempt on Marcus's life."

Victor added. "Look, Deena, I know I've had some differences with Reed, but I can't stand to see another cop get killed or almost get killed. I might have to help with this case. That gang is pretty ruthless, so I will help."

Whitting added. "I will help look into this, too. In the meantime, Marcus will be fine."

"I hope so," Dixon said, as they all entered the helicopter to head back to the precinct.

* * *

 **ELITE OPERATIONS DIVISON HEADQUARTERS, LOS ANGELES.**

Meanwhile, in LA, Nick and Marcus had brought in two suspects. One was the hitman who tried to kill the two cops. But because it was Ray's house, one could suspect that the two hitmen were on the hunt for Ray. The question was why. He was merely an addict, or was he?

The other suspect brought in was Tina Ferguson, a bank teller who may or may not have had a part in a robbery attempt from a few days prior.

With the two suspects having been apprehended, it was now time to ask some questions. Chief Parks had led the way for Nick, Marcus, and Rosie, who walked with them as well.

Parks looked inside the interrogation room with Tina inside, who sat there and looked down at the table with her right hand holding her head. "Nick, what's with that woman in there?"

Nick looked through the window. "Remember that robbery I foiled the other day? Well, I think she knows something. Reed and I went to scope out that guy Ray's house out in El Monte earlier. It turns out that she is Ray's girlfriend or something like that. She doesn't seem that loyal."

"What do you mean?" Chief said.

"Never mind that, but something also tells me that her boyfriend isn't _just_ an addict."

Marcus added. "That other guy we busted, he and some other guy came gunning for that guy we were looking for. We just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Nick responded. "Or maybe the right place at the right time, depending on how you look at it. It looks like something is not what it seems from Ray." Nick paused. "Anyway, she has to know something. I'm going to talk to her."

"Nick," Chief said. "Be careful with her."

"Please, I am not that rough with the ladies, depending on how you look at it."

Marcus let out a small chuckle but then stopped himself as he noticed the two lady cops looking in his direction.

The moment Nick walked in through the door, Tina looked up and jumped. Nick looked right at her with a scowl, while Tina looked back at him with a look of "oh shit."

"Well, Tina, how are you doing today?" Nick said as he got closer to her and then sat down. "You know, you just came to mind earlier, which was why I paid you a visit. Except I wouldn't be so pleased if I knew that you were lying to my face a few days ago."

"What do you mean?" Tina said.

Nick had taken the photo from before, as well as the letter and laid them out on the table. He aggressively pushed them towards her.

"You see, I am starting to wonder if you knew anything about that robbery going down at your bank that day, especially when Ray had a part in it."

The moment she heard that name, her eyes bulged.

"That's right, not only did you lie to me about not having a boyfriend, despite telling me you did before, but I think you were in on that whole heist attempt."

"Wait, Ray was one of those guys?" Tina said with so much shock in her voice.

"Don't fucking play dumb with me, I read your boyfriend's letter to you. It seems like he is trying to get away from shit. It's a good thing I was at your house before a couple of assholes tried to kill him, and/or you if you were there."

Tina took a deep breath and looked away before shifting her eyes right at Nick. "Okay, let me break it down for you. I'm going to tell you all I know. Yes, Ray is, or was, my boyfriend. It's very complicated with us right now. Listen, he has been going through a lot. He has a lot of issues, whether it's drug problems or owing really bad people money through gambling debts or even worse, drug-dealing."

"Ohhhhh, now we're getting somewhere," Nick said in a sly yet sarcastic tone.

Tina continued to speak. "He and a couple of friends of his were talking about knocking off a bank because he owed so much money to some gangsters. He has been really distant and his problems have been getting worse. He even stole some of the drugs he was told to deal and even used them. I tried to help him a few times get over his addiction, but some of the time he'll relapse. Don't get me started on his gambling debts. He even put some of the rent money down, but then the debt got even higher. I couldn't deal with it anymore, so I was considering breaking up with him."

"Okay, sounds plausible," Nick said. "But somehow I think that you had a part in the robbery."

"I swear to you, I had no idea that they were going to go for the bank that I work at," Tina said. "The way one of those guys put the gun right to my head, I was so scared right then. I didn't know that it was them in under those masks."

"Why should I believe you?"

"I know it's hard for you to believe me after finding out about my relationship with Ray, but if you look at some of the camera footage, you might…find that I was a little wet in some areas that day."

"Your boyfriend was easy to take down," Nick said. "Something told me that he was going through a relapse. He even had some of the drugs on him that very day. However, the other two guys were not as easy."

Nick then got out the mug-shots of the other two men involved in the robbery. One was named Neil Vincent; the other was named Joe Doyle. Tina took a closer look at them and then gasped and then quickly put her hands right to her mouth.

"You know these guys, don't you?" Nick said.

Tina looked up and Nick saw that her eye started to get slightly watery.

"Yes, I know them." She then wiped her eye a bit. "Those two guys are bad news. They are a couple of friends from Ray's past and I often tried to get him to stop talking to them. Like I told you before, I tried to help him get over some of these issues, but somehow the people from his past come back and find him. I always knew that they hated me, but I didn't think that they were willing to put a gun to my head like they did."

"Didn't seem like Ray was the ring-leader," Nick said. "Neil was definitely the last guy I took down, so he was probably the main guy in charge. Shit, it even felt like Ray blitzed up to his wits that day to even try to even be a competent triggerman. I don't think he even knew what was going on. It even seemed that way when I talked to him."

"You talked to him?" Tina said.

"Doesn't he tell you anything?" Nick said.

"He _has_ been really distant lately. Like I said, we've been on the outs of our relationship, so he hasn't said much about what he has been going through. I loved him. Actually, I still love him, but it just hasn't been working out for us lately."

"Well, do those bad people know anything about you?" Nick said.

"As far as I know, he tried to leave me out of everything," Tina said. "The last thing he wanted to do was hurt me."

"You know, as much of a piece of shit he sounds, he is very loyal," Nick said.

Tina looked up at Nick and said, "Please don't call him that. He may be screw-up, he may be troubled, but he is not a bad person."

Nick had every right to have a lot of disbelief in everything she said, but the fact that her boyfriend had a lot of problems and had to take off, it sounded like he didn't want Tina to get mixed up in his problems.

"Okay, I'll take your word…for now, anyway," Nick said. "I'm not saying I believe you, but I'm not saying I don't believe you either. What you should do is call him. I need to have a word with him, especially after everything you just told me."

Tina nodded her head and then took out her phone, only for her phone to start ringing and an unfamiliar number appeared on the screen. She then picked up.

"Hello?" she said.

A male voice said. "Tina, are you on your lunch break?"

"Not exactly," Tina said. "Ray, there's someone here who wants to talk to you."

Nick then gave her the signal to hand it over.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another interrogation room, Chief Parks and Rosie tried to talk to the Russian hitman. It turned out his name was Nikolai Chugunkin. He looked bored and was ready to try to break out at any given moment, but he was handcuffed to the table. After the fight he put up with Nick, he had to be restrained.

The Chief talked. "You know, we caught who we believe was an accomplice of yours, but he wasn't talking."

"I know you don't like to rat on your own," Rosie said. "But the fact that you and your partner went to a person's house to kill him, you will be charged on the grounds on breaking and entering, home invasion, attempted murder. It doesn't matter if you get bailed out in this, it's all on you now. Shit, your partner almost killed a fellow officer as well as a civilian."

At that point, Marcus walked in. He signaled to the two ladies. He wanted to handle this on his own. At that point, Rosie and Chief Parks stood and watched through the window.

"Do you think that he might have an idea on what's going on?" Rosie said.

Chief said, "I don't know, but with Reed having busted some crime syndicates, he has to have a way to get information."

"I just wonder if he can crack that guy," Rosie said. "Nick has his ways, but I don't know about this guy."

Marcus stood over the hitman. "Well well, I know for a fact that you don't want to sell out your boys. I know a thing or two about loyalty, but at the same time, this might not be a case of loyalty, but rather that you know that someone will want to take you out if you fuck up anything in the process."

"Who the fuck are you, pig?" Nikolai said.

"I'm the guy who smoked your boy," Marcus said.

"You got lucky," Nikolai said.

"Oh, really? I got lucky?" Marcus said. "Well let me tell you a thing or two about luck. You don't singlehandedly take down a drug ring or counterfeiting ring without having a lot of bullets flying at you and trying to make sure that you take the majority of the people alive. That's what I've done. Your boy, however, wasn't so lucky. He was too cocky that he was sure that he would smoke a cop who was on duty."

"What do you want from me, cop?" Nikolai said. "From what I see, you're not even from here."

"Don't let the badge fool you," Marcus said. "I am here to solve a case involving a drug that I was sure that I had gotten off the streets of New York, but somehow it ended up out here. And from what I saw, you and your dead boy, as well as that fool who won't be able to walk right anymore, you must have some reason to follow us or maybe you know someone who fucked you over, which was why you came to a person's house to kill him."

Marcus then grabbed Nikolai by the jaw. "So tell me, who were you going to kill? Who the fuck sent you to do the job?"

"None of your fucking business."

"I knew you would say that." Marcus then grabbed the suspect by the head and then drove his head right to the table. "Now will you tell me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't make me the bad guy, or else this could get ugly."

"Fuck you."

"Oh, _now_ you say that. Well, fuck you, too." Marcus then drove the man's face into the table once again, so hard that he got a minor bruise on his face. Once he took a look at the suspect's face, blood started to run from his nose.

"Oh come on, I didn't hit you that hard," Marcus said.

From the outside, Nick joined the two ladies, whom had looked on with looks of shock, yet were a bit calm in the matter.

"Hey, what's going on in there?" Nick said.

"He's trying to get information," Rosie said. "And I thought you were pretty rough sometimes."

"I still have my moments," Nick said. "But that all depends on who I'm dealing with."

Inside, Marcus then banged his hands on the table. "Tell me! Who were you trying to kill? And who are you working for?"

The door then opened. "Reed, let me handle this." Marcus looked up and saw Nick standing there.

"Kang, he's all yours."

Nick then walked in. Marcus got out and stood there with Rosie and Chief Parks. Through the window, Nick got Nikolai to his feet and then pushed him against the wall.

Inside, Nick said, "What do you want from Ray Miller?"

Nikolai answered. "Our boss wants him dead. He found out that the little shit owes a lot of money, as he stole some of the drugs to deal on his own, as well as for his own use. My boss does not tolerate failure in any way. From what I know, I only heard that Ray had some problems of his own and was only selling the drugs for his own benefit. He gave little for my boss's cut. Some of the guys had to be with him when he was dealing."

"What was he doing out in Santa Monica yesterday?" Nick said.

"Only thing I will say is that there may have been dealers out there that we needed to get a cut from," Nikolai said. "That's all I will tell you."

"Not so fast, Nikolai. When does the Gulag club open? I think your boss and I will have a nice chat."

"The opening is this Friday," Nikolai said. "But don't say that I didn't warn you."

"That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Nick said. "This had better check out."

Nick got out of the interrogation room and approached Marcus, Rosie, and Chief Parks.

"Okay, I was told everything by the girl, and this guy managed to tell me some stuff," Nick said. "It seems that Ray Miller, the guy I arrested recently, is one of the problems in this case. I had the girl lend me her phone so that I can have a nice chat with him. I will talk to him again soon. But in the meantime, I think I will need to check out the Gulag club this Friday to find out who is running this operation."

Marcus said, "Well, I can't help you with this. I have to go handle the race with Gypsy. I feel that Vivian's boyfriend is also involved in the dealing. For all we know, if he fucks anything up, he might be next."

Rosie said, "Well maybe I might have to do my meeting so that I can talk to that guy Pete. I think I can have him meet me at the Gulag so we can talk business. He might be in deep with whoever the supplier is."

"Well, we'll have to see what will happen," Chief Parks said. "It doesn't seem like these people are the type to be messed with. Anyway, I need to go look at some stuff right now."

"Hold on, Chief," Nick said. "Something tells me that the two accomplices in that robbery might know more than we think. I think they're only in county right now."

"Well, you two do what you think is right," Chief Parks said. "I need to go do some paperwork right now."

At that point, all of the cops split up to go do their own thing.

* * *

 **GULAG CLUB, WEST HOLLYWOOD.**

Inside the club, which looked slightly different from how it did before, some Russian gangsters were lined up, as well as some African-American gangsters. The Russians led the black gangsters the way into an office. The black gang members all paved the way for a man in a black and white pinstripe suit and sunglasses and had a briefcase in his hand. He also had a muscular man by his side.

In front of him, a man sat behind a desk but had the chair facing the opposite direction.

"Bobby Green, I've been expecting you," a man said in a Russian accent and then turned around, who was revealed to be younger, like maybe 25 years old.

"You're the leader?" Bobby said. "And it's Robert to you."

"Okay, Robert," the man said. "My name is Vladimir, but you can call me Vlad. And yes, I know I may be young, but don't let my age fool you. I've seen a lot of stuff in my day. I think I know what I'm doing."

"I'm older and I think I've seen even more," Bobby said. "But I am not here to argue. I'm here to discuss business. With all of the Pop you've been selling, I'm here to discuss our end of the bargain. I've been having some of my boys in New York sell some of it as well as had a lot of the shipments come from out there. But you also promised me your end. Where are the weapons that you promised us?"

"All in good time, Mr. Green," Vlad said. "They've all been paid for, and I know that we need to give your boss, my boss, in fact, OUR boss his end of the bargain."

"You think I don't know that?" Bobby said. "Besides, I might have to be for a little longer, anyway. Let's just say that I am trying to lay low from any issues in my neck of the woods."

"Hey, you supply us with the drugs, we'll supply you with the arms," Vlad said. "Besides, we're getting in the money in the process for Pop, and if I recall, didn't you have some other drugs that you got your hands on?"

"Only some," Bobby said. "But we'll have to look into what we can do with it."

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

The two gang leaders looked up towards the door. Vlad asked another man in the room in Russian to open the door.

The doorman said, "What do you want? Bosses are busy now."

"I just need to talk to my boss for a minute. It won't take long."

Bobby turned around. "Tre, what's going on?"

"I have to tell you something," Tre said. "In fact, I need to show you."

Tre got out the digital camera and showed the picture that his boss needed to see. Bobby took a closer look and the moment he saw it, his eyes bulged.

"What the fuck is he doing out here?" Bobby said. "What's going on here? I told my boys to try to smoke that pig, but now he out here."

"Shit, I don't know," Tre said. "But he and that cop busted one of those Russian guys who were sent to kill that one dude. Maybe they're working together."

"Well, we we're gonna have to take care of that problem very soon," Bobby said. "Shit, those two Russian dudes could have taken care of him and we wouldn't be in this shit now."

"I don't know shit about any of this, okay?" Tre said. "I just needed you to know that he's here."

Vlad then got up and took a peek at the picture on the camera. The moment he saw the picture, he had a look on his face that made him think that one of the men seemed familiar.

"Excuse me, let me see that picture," Vlad said.

"You don't know what we're talking about here, this is a problem of our own," Bobby said.

"No, I'm not talking about that cop," Vlad said. "I'm talking about the Asian cop. I need to see who he is. Give it to me, now."

Bobby reluctantly handed Vlad the camera so that he could see. He looked at the picture and suddenly, one of the cops seemed familiar to him. Not so much that he had met him before, but had heard about him and likely had seen pictures.

"It's him," Vlad said. "I know who that cop is. And he will pay for what he's done."

* * *

 **Another note: Oh man, what a chapter I worked on. The next one will have the race sequence and Marcus and Vivian's reunion. I might even have another returning character appear, but I won't say who.**

 **Also, like you've seen here, I had Victor appear. I was initially unsure about having him appear, but even though he was a jerkass cop in New York City, he wasn't a bad guy at all. Also, he will help on the case with Dixon and Whitting.**

 **It's funny how deep I am digging into the lore, even though there were only two games. Or three if you count Sleeping Dogs, but if I were to do one with Wei, that would be set later.**

 **I finally revealed the other antagonist. He might as well be the co-main antagonist. As for the part at the end, I will leave you to find what his issue with Nick is.**

 **I will do the next one soon.**


End file.
